kings, is an honour far greater than the temporal government of the whole universe. Should we not, then, bear in mind what an office is devolved upon us ?
From speaking thus respecting the dignity of the ministry, it proceeds to speak of the importance of the trust committed to us : " Have always therefore printed in your remembrance, how great a treasure is committed to your charge : for they are the sheep of Christ, which he bought with his death, and for whom he shed his blood." The congregation whom you must serve, is "his spouse, and his body." What a tender and affecting representation is here! The souls committed to our care are represented as " the sheep of Christ, which he bought with his death, and for which he shed his blood." What bounds would there be to our exertions, if we considered as we ought, that we are engaged in that very work, for which our Lord Jesus Christ came down from the bosom of his Father, and shed his blood upon the cross ; and that to us he looks for the completion of his efforts in the salvation of a ruined world ? Further still, they are represented as " the spouse and body of Christ," whose welfare ought to be infinitely dearer to us than life itself. We know what concern men would feel if the life of their own spouse, or of their own body, were in danger, though they could only hope to protract for a few years a frail and perishable existence: what, then, ought we not to feel for " the spouse and body of Christ," whose everlasting welfare is dependent on our exertions !
After thus impressing on our minds the importance of our office, the exhortation proceeds in the next place to urge us to a diligent performance of it. It reminds us, that we are answerable to God for every soul committed to our charge; that there must be no limit to our exertions, except what the capacity of our minds and the strength of our bodies have assigned. It calls upon us to use all the means in our power to qualify ourselves for the discharge of it, by withdrawing ourselves from worldly cares, worldly pleasures, worldly studies, worldly habits and pursuits