' ActB xxvi. 16-18. If a minister had as many eyes as Argus to watch, as many heads as Typheus to dispose, and as many hands as Briareus to labour, he might find employ- ment enough for thpm all in the faithful diacharge of his ministerial function. [Of. vol. i., p. 3, footnote 1. — G.]
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 139
dead master, and hold up his head in Tiber from sinking, because sometimes he gave him a crust of bread ; and will not you highly love, honour, and esteem of those pastors who feed your souls with the bread of life, yea, with that bread that came down from heaven ? Certainly the more any man is affected and taken with the holiness of the word, the more highly they will honour and prize the holy and faithful dispensers of the word. Holy men know that their place is honourable, their calling honourable, and their work honourable ; and therefore they cannot but honour them. Holy men know that if they do not honour them, they dishonour him whose ambassadors they are. Holy men know that Christ takes all the affronts that are put upon them as put upon himself, and will accordingly revenge them, as you may see by comparing the scriptures in the margin together.^ Am- bassadors are inviolable by the law of nations. David never played any such harsh part as he did to the Ammonites, that despitefuUy used his ambassadors that he sent unto them, when they shaved off one half of their beards, and cut off their garments in the middle, &c.
1 have read that Rome was destroyed to the ground for some abuses that were offered to an ambassador that was sent unto it. And the Romans sacked the famous city of Corinth, and razed it to the ground, for a little discourtesy that they offered to their ambassadors.^ No wonder then if God deal so severely with those that slight his ambas- sadors, who come with messages of grace and favour from the King of kings and Lord of lords, and whose great work is to make a firm, an everlasting peace between Grod and sinners' souls, and that all dif- ferences between God and them may be for ever decided, and a free trade to heaven fully opened and maintained. As for such as slight, scorn, and despise the holy and faithful dispensers of the word, I think they are as far from real holiness as hell is from true happiness. And so, doubtless, are they that grumble at the expense of a penny for the maintenance of that divine candle that wasteth itself to give light to them, that will rather die to save charges than spend a little money to save their lives, yea, their souls, 2 Cor. xii. 14-16.
14. In ihe fourteenth place, A man that is really holy will be holy among the unholy. He will retain and keep his holiness, let the times be never so unholy. Principles of grace and holiness are lasting ; they are not like the morning cloud nor the early dew, Ps. cxix. 112, and cvi. 3 ; 1 John iii. 9, 10. Holy Abraham was righteous in Chaldea ; holy Lot was just in Sodom ; holy Job was upright in the land of Uz, which was a place of much profaneness and superstition ; holy Nehe- miah was courageous and zealous in Damascus; and so was holy Daniel in Babylon. The several generations wherein these holy men lived were wholly devoted to wickedness and superstition, and yet these precious souls had wholly devoted themselves to godliness. ^ And of the same spirit, mind, and metal was holy David: Ps. cxix. 20, ' My soul breaketh for the longing it hath to thy judgments at all times.' Let the times be never so dangerous, licentious, superstitious, or erroneous, 'yet David's heart was strongly carried forth to God's judg-
^ Luke X. 16 ; Mat. ixii. 4, 8, xxi. 33, 44, and xxiii. 37-39; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 14, 22 ;
2 Sam. X. 1, 7, compared vith xii. 31. * Aa before. — G.
140 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14,