prosperity of any people is intimately connected with the con- tinuance of a pious minister amongst them. Who that sees places, where religion once flourished, now left in darkness, and immersed in all the vanities of an ungodly world, must not take up a lamentation over them, and bewail the removal of the candlestick from amongst them! We need only look to the seven Churches of Asia, in confirmation of this melancholy truth. Or perhaps we may come nearer home, and survey it in towns and villages within the sphere of our own observation. In truth, as if the labours of pious ministers were no better than a noxious pestilence, it is the aim of many to place in their room such pastors as shall defeat to the uttermost all the efforts of their lives, and bring back the people to a state of ignorance, carelessness, and indifference. I must say, there- fore, that they who have profited by the labours of any minister are deeply interested in his continuance amongst them.]
2. The prosperity of their souls —
[A pious minister, if he relapse into a carnal and worldly state, will soon shew it in his ministrations. A neglect of his duties will ensue ; and a lukewarmness will pervade all his labours. The people will catch his spirit, and languish toge- ther with him, and soon relapse into formality. On the other hand, if his soul flourish, there will be an unction upon his word ; and it will go forth with power, and will reach the hearts of multitudes. He will be crying to God in secret, and will bring with him a blessing wherever he goes. Being blessed in his own soul, he will be a blessing to all around him. I say, then, that the people are interested, deeply interested, in the prosperity of his soul. He is a vessel in which the golden oil is treasured up ; and from which it passes, in the golden pipes of ordinances, to every lamp. If he be desti- tute, their light will decay: if he be full, they will burn the brighter, and God will be the more glorified in them.
If, then, the people would enjoy much of God themselves, they should pray for their minister; who, under God, is the medium of communication between God and them.]
Application —
And now, methinks, I might well address to you the words of the Apostle in my own behalf —
[For surely, if not circumstanced as he was in relation to bodily dangers, we are all exposed to dangers from our great adversary, who, as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour; and consequently we need, as much as ever the Apostle did, your intercessions with God, that we may be delivered from all the assaults of Satan, and be preserved