A minister's chief joy.
3 John 4. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth,
THERE subsists between a Minister and his people a relation which may not unfitly be compared with that of a father and his children. The meta- phorical expression of a father is more strictly appli- cable to those whom a Minister " has begotten through the Gospel'':" but it needs not to be re- stricted to this sense : it may be used with greater latitude in reference to those over whom a Minister watches, and for whose benefit he labours, with pa- rental anxiety, especially where the person to whom the paternal relation is ascribed is somewhat ad- vanced in years. It should seem that Gains, to whom St. John wrote this Epistle, was converted to the faith by the Ministry of PauP : yet St. John pro- perly includes him amongst his children, because he felt the same regard for him as for those who were the more immediate seals of his own Ministry ; the whole body of his people being in his different epistles frequently designated by that favourite ap- pellation ^
Respecting the state of Gaius' soul, the Apostle had heard the most satisfactory account ; so that he could not shew his anxiety for the bodily health of Gaius more strongly, than by wishing it to prosper in every respecf^, " even as his soul prospered." Having
declared
» 1 Cor, iv. 15. ^ 1 Cor. i. 14,
' 1 John ii. 1, & iii. 18. ^ 7rǤ' vdnuv, ver, 2*