Then, from enjoying God in his courts below, you shall be taken to serve him in his temple above, where your largest desires shall be satisfied, and your utmost capacities be filled^.]
e Rev. xxi. 22, 23. Ps. xvi. 11.
Isai. iii. 10, 11. Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be loell ivith him : for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the ivicked ; it shall he ill with him : for the reward of his hands shall he given him.
THE Ministers of the Gospel are " stewards of the mysteries of God," whose office it is '' rightly to divide the word of truth," and to " give every one his por- tion in due season." They are to '' take forth the precious from the vile, and to be as God's mouth to all," declaring their true character, and their proper doom. Their commission is sealed in the words before us, and the very message they are to deliver as God's ambassadors, is recorded for their direction to the end of time. In complying with the duty here enjoined, we shall,
I. Describe the characters that are to be addressed — There are but two classes of men in the world ; " the righteous" and " the wicked."
[However diversified men's states may be in some parti- culars, they all must be ranked under the one or the other of these heads. In distinguishing them, therefore, we must in- clude in the first class, not merely the more eminent saints, but the least and meanest of God's people; seeing that there are in God's household " babes, and young men, as well as fathers '*." And in the second class we must comprehend all those persons, who, however admired by an undiscerning world, are reputed wicked in the sight of God.
I may say then, they are "righteous" who have been re- newed in the spirit of their mind, and are following after universal holiness ; and they, on the other hand, are "wicked," who are still in a carnal unregenerate state, and render only a formal and partial obedience to the divine law.
But that I may put this in the clearest possible light, I will
a 1 John ii. 1 3.