tlie success of which he passionately desires, and from which he proniiseth him- self much honoin-, and he meets with opposition, he is greatly provoked. There is nothing that God sets his heart more upon than the exaltation of Christ, and his grace through him, in the salvation of poor sinners : this therefore is called his counsel, Heb. vi. 17; ' The pleasure of the Lord,' Isa. liii. 10. Abraham's servant knew how much his master desired a wife for his son and heir from among his kindred, and therefore presseth Laban with this, as the weightiest argmnent of all others, — ' If ye will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me ; if not, tell me :' as if he had said. By this, the truth of your love to my master will be seen. So here, if j'e will indeed deal kindly wdth God, tell his ambassadors so, by your complying with them in that which he so affectionately desires. This the Lord Jesus, when on earth, called his Father's business, which must be done whatever comes on it, Luke ii. 49 : ' Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business V He knew he had never come hither but for the dispatch of this, and could not look his Father in the face when he went back, except this was finished ; therefore as this went on, and the work of the gospel made progress, or met with any stoppage in the hearts of men, he mourned or rejoiced; when it was rejected, we find him grieved for the hardness of their hearts. When his disciples made report how victoriously the chariot of the gospel ran, 'In that hour he rejoiced in spirit,' Luke x. 21. When he was taking his leave of the world, his thoughts were at work how the gospel should be carried on, and the salvation of souls suffer no prejudice by his departure ; he therefore empowered his apostles for the work : ' All power is given me ; go, preach the gospel to all nations.' Yea, now in heaven, he is waiting for the success of it, and listening how his servants succeed in their ei-rand. Now, what a prodigious sin is it, by thy impenitency to withstand God in his main design ! Do you indeed deal kindly with our Master, whose embassy we bring?
Section III. — Fourthly, Consider the weight and importance of the message these ambassadors bring unto you. It is not a slight errand we come about. ' I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil,' Dent. xxx. 15. ' Hear, and your souls shall live,' Isa. Iv. 3. ' He that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him,' John iii. 36. We come not to entice 3'ou with the favour of an earthly prince, who may promise honours to-day, and lose his own crown to-morrow. We bait not our hook with the world's treasures or pleasures, but bring you news of a heaven that shall as surely be yours, as you ai"e now on earth, if you accept the offer. We scare you not with the displeasure of a mortal man, whose breath is in his nostrils ; nor with the momentary torment of i-ack or gibbet, which continue hardly long enough to be felt ; but with tlie never-dying wrath of the ever-living God ; and what we either promise or threaten in God's name, he stands ready and i-esolved to perform ; he ' confirmeth the word of his servants, and performeth the coun- sel of his messengers,' Isa. xliv. 20. Fifthly, Consider on what terms the gospel and its messengers stay among you. There is a time when God calls his am- bassadoi's home, and will treat no longer with a people, and that must needs be a sad day ; for when they go, then judgments and plagues come : if the treaty ends, it will not be long before the war begins. Elisha died, — and the bands of the Moabites invaded the land,' 2 Kings xiii. 20. The prophet once gone, then the enemy comes : the angel plucks Lot out of Sodom, and how long had they fair weather after? The Jews put away the gospel from them by their impenitency, which made the apostles turn to the Gentiles, Acts xiii. 46. But did they not thereby call for their own ruin and destruction, which presently came flying on the Roman eagle's wings to them ? They judged themselves imworthy of eternal life, and God thought them unworthy also to have a tem- poral. If once God calls hom.e his ambassadors, it is no easy matter to bring them back, and the treaty set on foot again. God can least endure to be slighted in that which he makes account of as one of the highest ways he can express his favour to a people ; better no ambassadors had come, than to come and go without effecting what they came for : ' Tliey shall know,' saith God, ' that there hath been a prophet among them,' Ezek. ii. 5 ; that is, they shall know it to their cost; God will be paid for his ministers' pains. Ministers die, or arc removed from their people, and glad they are to get rid of them ; but they have not done with them, till they have reckoned with God for them.
FOH WHICH I AM AN AMBASSADOR. gO.'j