farewell discourse which he delivered to the elders at Miletus, put them on their guard ; and thus, by fore- warning them of their danger, contributed in a very high degree to the preservation of that Church in peace and purity.
From the caution contained in the words before us, we observe,
I. That to warn men of their danger is the kindest office of love —
[Will any one doubt whether it was an act of love in St. Paul to warn the Ephesians: to warn them individually as well as collectively ; to warn them " by night and by day," as often as he could gain access to them ; to warn them with such earnestness as scarcely ever to address them without floods of " tears ;" to do this incessantly, for three years together, when there was perhaps no other Church with whom he made so long an abode ? However his fidelity might have been represented there, we have no doubt of the source from whence it sprang. Shall it be thought harsh then and un- kind in us to warn our hearers? Who would impute it to harshness, if a parent warned his child, when walking on the brink of an unseen precipice, or playing on the hole of an asp, or cockatrice den ? " We know the terrors of the Lord ; and therefore we persuade men." We know, that the soul that dies in an unregenerate state can never be admitted into the kingdom of heaven a : we know, that no person can be saved, who does not truly believe in Christ, and rely upon him alone for salvation b: we know, that " without holiness no man shall see the Lord." On these accounts we warn the unholy, the unbelieving, the unregenerate ; and intreat them to flee from the wrath to come. If we appear earnest at any time, ought we to be blamed as too zealous, or needlessly severe ? No : you have infinitely more reason to complain on account of our coldness and treachery, than on account of any excess in our fidelity and earnestness. What little zeal we do shew, should be esteemed the fruit of love. And, if we could follow you from the public ordinances to your respective houses, and there renew to you separately, and with tears, the warnings we have given you in public, we should perform to you the kindest office ; and most approve ourselves the ser- vants of Him, who wept over the murderous Jerusalem, and died for the salvation of a ruined world.]
To evince that such fidelity cannot under any cir- cumstances be dispensed with, we observe,
a John iii. 3. b John iii. 18, 36. Phil. iii. 9.