strong :" for " if God be for them, who shall be against them?" Only let them " acknowledge him in all their ways," and depend upon him in all their trials, and they need not fearq; for " his eyes shall run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in their behalf1-."]
i Ps. xlvi. 1,2. r 2 Chron. xvi. 9.
Jer. xxiii. 28, 29, He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the tvheat ? saith the Lord. Is not my word like as afire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer, that breaketh the rock in pieces?
OF all the different orders of mankind, there is not any that is more influential on society than that of ministers. The prophets of old, if truly faithful to their God, were means and instruments of diffusing incalculable blessings through the countries where they lived. The false prophets, on the contrary, hardened the people in their wickedness, and brought down the heaviest judgments on those whom they misled. Ministers of the present day produce simi- lar effects, only on a more contracted scale. The prophets, whether true or false, were listened to as inspired ; and, consequently, as bearing an authority far beyond what any minister at this time can assume. But still, as expounders of God's revealed will, we are listened to with much respect and deference ; and we are the means of dispensing much good or evil to our auditors, according as we approve ourselves faith- ful or unfaithful to the office we sustain, and to the Master whom we profess to serve. This is strongly intimated in the passage before us ; in which we have,
I. A solemn injunction to all who bear the office of the ministry — As ministers, the word of God is put into our hands, and a dispensation is committed to us to preach it ; and that office we must execute " faith- fully:" we must speak the word,