would be accounted " a troubler of our Israel/' and be condemned for his needless, his insufferable, pre- ciseness. But whence is this ? It is owing to the lukewarmness of the generality, and not to any undue energy in those who serve the Lord. Of all people under heaven, a minister of Christ is most bound to exert himself in the cause of his Divine Master. Ministers are intended to be " lights in a dark world ; " yea, they are " the salt of the earth," which, by its influence, is destined to keep the whole world from corruption. Nor ought any consideration either of hope or of fear to sway them in the least. They should be unmoved by seductions of any kind, and should be ready to lay down their own lives for the honour of God, and the welfare of their fellow- creatures. Yes, this is the sacrifice which they should be ready to make : for so says the holy Apostle : " If I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all: do ye also joy and rejoice with meg." Here the Apostle con- siders his converts as an offering to God : and, as libations were poured forth upon the offerings, he accounted his heart's blood as a proper libation to be poured forth for them; and the shedding of it an occasion for most unqualified joy.
For the averting of God's wrath, it is true, we can offer no atonement. But we can speak of an atone- ment which has been offered, even that once offered by our blessed Lord upon the cross ; and that is a sufficient " propitiation for the sins of the whole world." But how shall I speak of that ? If we admire the zeal of Phinehas, who offered to God an atonement by the sacrifice of the offenders, what shall I say of our great High-Priest, who has made an atonement by the sacrifice of himself, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God ? Here was zeal indeed, and " a love that passeth knowledge." But by this it is that God is pacified towards us. There is, alas ! a moral plague prevailing throughout our whole camp, and slaying its tens of thousands in
e Phil. ii. 17, 18.