[1.] First, You must honour them by hearing therfi, and giving credit to their message. The want of this honour troubled Jonah too much ; * Who hath believed our report V Not to believe the report that they make concerning God and Christ, &c., is to cast the greatest dis- honour that can be upon them.^ The wise men, Mat. ii., went many weary hundred miles to find Christ at Jerusalem ; some think near a thousand miles. The Queen of Sheba, some say, went 964) miles to hear the wisdom of Solomon ; and what was Solomon's wisdom to that wisdom of Christ that is held forth to souls in the ministry of the gospel.^ The holy martyrs thought no weather too hot, no winter too cold, no journey too long, nor no torment too great, to enjoy the preaching of the gospel, though darkly. The heathen priests began with hoc age ; they thought it a very irreligious thing to be remiss and vain, though in a vain religion. Oh that vain professors would remember this, and blush !
[2.] Secondly, You may honour them, hy standing fast in the doctrine of the Lord delivered by them: 1 Thes. iii. 8, 'Ye are our joy, our crown, if ye stand fast in the Lord ; ' else, saith the apostle, ye kill our very hearts.'' If after all our studying, wrestling, sweating, and preaching, ye shall play apostates, and leave the precious ways of God, and run after notions and vain opinions which cannot profit you, nor better you, you will kill many at once : your own souls and our hearts.
[3.] Thirdly, You should honour them, by being followers of them, so far as they are followers of Christ. So in 1 Cor. iv. 16, 'Be ye followers of me, even as I am of Christ.' Chap. xi. 11 ; Heb. xiii. 7; 2 Thes. iii. 7 ; Phil. iii. 7. All these scriptures bespeak you to be followers of them as they are followers of Christ.*
Alexander had sortiewhat a wry neck, and his soldiers thought it an honour to be like him. Oh, it is an honour to ministers, when their people are like them in knowledge, wisdom, love, humihty, holiness !
Plutarch said of Demosthenes that he was excellent at praising the worthy acts of his ancestors, but not so at imitating .them. Ah, many in these days are excellent at praising and commending the holy and gracious actings of their ministers, but not so at imitatmg them !
[4.] Fourthly, You must honour them by bearing them upon your hearts when you ajjj^ear before the Lord in the m,ount:^ Eph. vi. 13
^ Antisthenes, a philosopher, went every day six miles to hear Socrates, [Ja before: see Index, sub nomine. — G.]
* Nunquam nimis dicitur, qicod nunquatn salts disciUir, We can never hear that too often that we can never learn too well.
' If I forsake my profession, I am sure of a worse deatli than judge Hailes had, said that martyr. [Foxe, sub nomine. — G.]
• Bonus dux, bonus cuvvs, A good leader makes a good follower. ■* Prayer is porta cceli, davis parodist, 'J'he gate of heaven, a key to let us into paradise.
The Jews fable, that our Saviour, by finding out the right pronunciation of the name ot God, did all his miracles ; but certainly the right invocatioaof the name of God would even make ministers work miracles indeed.
EpH. III. 8] RICHES OF CHRIST. 231
19 ; 2 Thes. iii. 1, 2 ; 1 Thes. v. 25 ; Col. i. 2, 4 ; Heb. xiii. 8 ; Acts xii. 5. All these scriptures do bespeak Christians to bear their faithful minis- ters upon their hearts when they are a-wrestling with God. None usually are opposed as they. Their wants are many, their weaknesses are more, their work is great, their strength is small. Oh pray, pray more and more for them ; yea, pray believingly, pray affectionately, pray fervently, pray unweariedly, that they may speak from the heart to the heart, that they may speak things that are seasonable and suitable to the capacities and conditions of his people. They can tell when they want your prayers, and when they enjoy your prayers ; did you pray more for them, they might do more for your internal and eternal good, than now they do.
[5.] Lastly, You must honour them hy adhering, to them, and abiding with them in all their trials, afflictions, and, tribulations that do or shall attend them. It is brave to own them in a storm, to own them when others disown them, when others oppose them, and act highly against them. Paul looked upon himself as much honoured by Onesiphorus owning of him in his chains : 2 Tim. i. 16, ' The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus ; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain : but, when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me. The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day : and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well.' Chrysostom, in an oration, says of Christians, ' That they would not be kept from visiting the confessors in prison, although it was forbidden with many threatening terrors, and it was great danger to them.' ^
But to draw to a close, you have heard that the office of a faithful minister is honourable, and you have heard what honour is due unto them. Let me therefore desire you all to take heed of scorning, con- temning, and despising of those that are faithful, that are qualified according to gospel rules. That is a sad word, 2 Chron. xxxvi. 1.5-18. God sent his messengers early and late to reclaim them, but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, till there was no remedy, nor no healing. David never played such a harsh part all his days, as he did to the Ammonites that despitefully used his ambassadors, as you may see at large in 2 Sam. x.
The Romans sacked the famous city of Corinth, and razed it to the ground, for a little discourtesy they offered to their ambassadors.^ And they slew many of the Illyrians and the Tarentines for misusing of their ambassadors. And do you think that the Lord is not as tender of the credit and honour of his faithful ministers, and that he wall not avenge the affronts, wrongs, and injuries that are done unto them ? Surely he will : Jer. xxix. 17-19, 'Thus saith the Lord of hosts. Be- hold, I will send unto them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
' The saints in the primitive times did so stick and cleave to those that were in bonds, that the very heathen admiringly cried out, ' Look how the Christians love one another.'
^ Ambassadors are inviolable by the law of nations, and the least indignity oftered to them is to be as severely punished as if it had been offered to the person of that iirince whom they represent. [Corinth: 'razed' by L. Mummius — Strabo, viii. ; Cicero, Fro Leg. Man., 5, &c., &c.— G.]
232 THE UXSEARCHAELE RICHES OF CHRIST. [EPH. Ill 8.