has been pressed upon them, the more aggravated is their dis- obedience or neglect ? Surely then we should " remember how many years we have been warned ;" and expect, that " to whom much has been committed, of them will God require the more."]
Application —
[Let believers watch, " lest being led astray by the error of the wicked, or by their own deceitful lusts, they fall from
their own steadfastness6" Let backsliders also watch
" lest being hardened through the deceitfulness of sin," they
abandon themselves to wickedness or despair Let
all watch, lest being blinded by the god of this world, they become slaves to his dominion, and partakers of his misery ]
e 2 Pet. hi. 1 7.
Acts xx. 32. And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
THIS is one of the most affecting portions of Scripture that can be found in all the Book of God. In it, the Apostle is taking leave of the Ephesian elders, over whom he had watched for the space of three years, and whose face he knew that he should behold no more. He was able to appeal to them, that, during that whole period, he had ministered unto them with the utmost fidelity, and watched over them with all the tenderness of a loving parent. And now that he was parting from them, he warned them of the evils which he foresaw, not only as probable, but certain : for that, from amongst them- selves, some would arise, to introduce dissensions and divisions among them, and to fill with tares the field which he had so carefully cultivated with the purest wheat. He could not continue always with them: he therefore now commended them to God, who alone was able to complete the work which had been begun in their souls.
1802.] A FAREWELL DISCOURSE. 52o
In these words we see, I. The desire of a minister for his people, when present with them —
A faithful minister not only carries his people in his arms like a father, but " travails in birth with them," as a mother8. He pants for,
1. Their present edification —
[It is here taken for granted that they are standing on the only true foundation, the Lord Jesus Christ. In truth, if any person have not come to the Lord Jesus Christ as the one foundation of a sinner's hope, he may be called a Christian, but
he is no other than a baptized heathen But, supposing
that the work of conversion have really been wrought in the souls of his people, the faithful minister desires to see them built up, and edified in faith and love. He would not that any of his spiritual children should continue in a state of in- fantine weakness : he wishes to see them grow, and " increase with the increase of God :" from children he would have them advance to young men and fathers, till they have attained " the full measure of the stature of Christ." If they were as eminent as St. Paul himself, he would " not consider them as having already attained, or as being already perfect ;" but he would exhort them to " forget what was behind, and to press forward to that which was before ; and never to relax their ardour, till they have finished their coui'se, and attained the prize of their high calling."]
2. Their everlasting salvation —
[They are "begotten to a glorious inheritance:" as children, " they are heirs ; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ :" and never does he consider his care for them as terminated, till he sees them translated from earth to heaven. As long as they are in the body, they are exposed to the assaults of Satan : and " he is jealous over them with a godly jealousy, lest that serpent who beguiled our first parents in Paradise, should by any means prevail over them." They are here intermixed with sinners, by whom they may be deceived and defiled. It is in heaven only that they are beyond the reach of temptation: there are none but saints : thither all who bear that sacred character are going : and when he beholds them safely landed on that happy shore, his soul is completely at rest respecting them ; and he looks forward to the happy day when he shall be united to them there, as " his joy and crown of rejoicing" for evermore.]