gence, and earnestly sought instruction from God, they should " be guided into all truth," and " be made wise unto salvation." If, being themselves blind, they commit themselves to the guidance of the blind, they must participate in their leaders' fate, and with them " fall into the ditch V]
2. To those who minister —
[" God has committed to us the ministry of reconcilia- tion ;" and he has said, " He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully x." To us, also, he has committed the souls to whom we minister ; and he will require an account of them from us, at the day of judgment. He has placed us as watch- men, who are to care for their souls, and to give them warning from him. " O Son of man," says he, " I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel : therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. "When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die ; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked man from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy souly." On his own fidelity his everlasting salvation depends. It is with him as with a sentinel at the extremity of a camp. If the enemy come, and he give the alarm, whether the enemy pre- vail or not, he is blameless : but if he sleep upon his post, or neglect to give the alarm, he is amenable to his commander for every life that has been sacrificed, and his life must go as an atonement for his fault. If this be the case where a man is in the service of an earthly monarch, and where the bodily life only is concerned, how much more must it be so in the service of the Most High God, and where the eternal welfare of souls is committed to us ! It is just; it is right that it should be so : and it is in vain to hope that we shall ever " save our- selves," if we be not faithful in our endeavours to " save them that hear us2."]
Address —
1. Those who have disregarded all the counsel that has been given them —
[To many our word has appeared only as " a cunningly- devised fable," and " an idle tale." But we call you to wit- ness, yea, and can make our appeal to God also, that we have, according to our ability, " declared unto you the whole counsel of God." And, though we have met with our measure
u Matt. xv. 14. * Jer. xxiii. 28.
y Ezek. xxxiii. 7—9. z 1 Tim. iv. 16.