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CHARGE III.

ON ZEAL.

THE first office of our Lord's ministry in Jerusalem was an exercise and display of zeal against the abuses which dishonour the glory of his Father, and the sanctity of his Temple. That divine meekness, which had hitherto distinguished his whole conduct, was, on this occasion, changed into an holy severity. He could not endure a public offence, which insulted Religion in the Lord's sanctuary. In vain did the Pharasees tolerate this abuse, in vain was it supported by universal and ancient custom; these seem the very considerations which awakened his indignation; and the more difficult and dangerous the remedy appeared, the less delay and caution did he use in abolishing this profanation of the temple.

The first example which our Lord hath left to his Ministers in the public exercise of their profession, is observable in the zeal which he exhibited against those vices that insult the glory of God, and profane the holiness of religion. He sends us, indeed, as lambs, who are to be silent and gentle in the midst of ill-treatment; but who are directed

to raise our voice, and "to cry aloud," when the glory of the Lord, whose ministers we are, is disparaged by the negligent, affronted by the careless, and contemned by the profligate. He disapproved, it is true, the zeal of the two disciples who called for fire from heaven on an unbelieving city; but he blamed only their unrestrained indignation, and unhallowed bitterness: He condemned the zeal which would punish rather than reclaim, and taught us, that, without charity, zeal is no more than violence of temper, and not an impulse of grace.

I this day propose to your attention, that a true, religious zeal, is essentially requisite in the character of a Christian Minister. And, then, why this zeal is so seldom found among us.

I. From the period in which the Church has associated us to the holy ministry, we become "la"bourers together with God," for the salvation of our brethren; we, in some measure, enter into the priesthood of the blessed Jesus, who became a priest for the purpose of destroying the dominion of sin, of restoring to his Father the glory of which the malice of men had robbed him, and of forming a spiritual, faithful people, an assembly of saints, to glorify him throughout the earth.

Thus, a Minister of the Gospel is charged with the interests of the Lord, and with the holiness of

men: his prayers, his desires, his studies, his exertions, are all to be directed to the salvation of

whatever does foreign to the

his brethren, as to their only end; not relate to this grand object is design of his vocation; his time should be employed, and his talents devoted, to induce men to "worship their Father in spirit and in truth;" he who is embarrassed with other cares, renounces the dignity of his high calling.

Elijah ascending to heaven, and leaving the spirit of his zeal to his disciple Elisha, was a type of Christ, who, after having sat down at the right hand of his Father, sent the spirit of zeal upon his disciples, which was to be the seal of their mission and the credential of their ministry; and, in consequence, to reform mankind, and to carry to all nations the knowledge of salvation, and the love of the truth. No sooner were they filled with the Holy Ghost, than these men, before so timid, and so diligent to conceal themselves from the fury of the Jews, despised danger, and defied punishment they bare testimony in presence of the high priests, of the resurrection of Jesus, and departed from the council, rejoicing to be thought "worthy to suffer shame for his name.'

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But the ardour of their zeal could not be confined to the land of Judea; they went from country to country, from nation to nation; they spread themselves throughout the extremities of the earth; they preached "the foolishness of the cross" to

the most polished of all people, whose boast was in the power of their eloquence, and the excellence of their philosophy. The obstacles, which every where presented themselves to their zeal, far from discouraging, confirmed their resolution, and enflamed their piety: the whole world conspired against them; and, in the midst of punishment, and in the sight of death, " they cannot," they say, "but speak what they have heard and seen." Such was the spirit of the priesthood, and of the apostleship which they had received.

Consider, now, to what we are dedicated, in receiving imposition of hands. The Church, it is true, doth not require each of us to preach the covenant of grace and mercy to barbarous nations, and to sprinkle with our blood the most distant countries, in order that we may disseminate the Gospel, and lead to a knowledge of its author, people who have never heard his name. No! What is required of us is, to watch, lest the enemy of mankind sow tares in this sacred field; to cultivate the plants which our heavenly Father hath there planted.

Now, should we deserve to bear the name of the Ministers of the Holy Jesus, if we could, unmoved, perceive iniquity and sin predominant among men -faith dead-holiness extinct-God almost unknown among us,-and Christians, the peculiar people, dishonouring the Redeemer, by excesses, which, in them who have never "named the name of Christ," would excite a blush?

Whence comes it, that the desolation of Christ's heritage, of which we are every day witnesses, doth not sensibly more affect us? Whence is it, that we think ourselves discharged from our obligations, when we have repeated, often without devotion, the prayers which the Church requires of us? Can we, as the Ministers of the Lord, suffer our brethren, who are the living temples of the Holy Spirit, to perish? Is not the most essential of our obligations that into which all the rest are resolved, the edification, and the salvation of men? The Church doth not acknowledge, in the sacred profession, idle labourers, the work of which is committed to us all; for a Clergyman, who is of no use to society, is an usurper of the priesthood he hath no farther right to the title of a Minister of the Gospel, than as he hath a zeal for its duties.

II. Whence comes it, that zeal for the temple of the Lord, this holy ardour for the salvation of men, this lively desire to extend the kingdom of God, this poignant grief to see his doctrine despised, and the greatest part of mankind going the way that leads to destruction; whence comes it, that these dispositions, so congenial to our vocation, so honourable to our ministry, so common, formerly, among the first preachers of the Gospel, are now so seldom to be found among the Pastors of the Church! Whence comes it, I again enquire, that this zeal more necessary at this day than ever, should seem extinct in the greatest part

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