oversight, is an impeachment of the wisdom of God, and a proof of great unbelief in the words of the Lord Jesus, that He is present with His ministers always, in the fulfilment of their office, unto the end of the world. God has not set the ministries of His Son into the Church for nought. Think not that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Son to supersede the operations of the Father or the ministrations of the Son. On the contrary, as by the Holy Ghost you have been baptized into one body, and made partakers of the life of God, so does the same Spirit bear testimony to Jesus, teaching you to call Him Lord, to acknowledge Him in all the ordinances of His Church, and to give Him glory. Yea, it is written, "that no man can say that Jesus is Lord but by the Holy Ghost." The man, therefore, that acknowledges the Lord Jesus in the ordinances of His Church, and seeks God's blessing through them, has this testimony, that he is led by the Holy Spirit. The contrary conduct must prove the reverse-that he is not led by the Spirit, but that he is grieving and quenching the Spirit. The Holy Ghost is always very jealous of the honour due unto the Lord Jesus, and is grieved when we give it not unto Him; for the Holy Ghost speaketh not of Himself, but of Christ, and came especially to bear witness unto Him. It is this witness in the believer which makes the ordinance of God such a reality, and which enables him to apprehend the truth of God in the ministry of His word. Such an one will pass by none of God's ordinances, but will seek the blessing of God through them; and thus will he be

kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation." There is no other defence, no other security. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runneth into it and is safe."* Woe to them

that stand without, for they are exposed to all the wiles of the devil, and to every lying divination. Take shelter, then, in Christ. Acknowledge the Lord Jesus in His ordinances, and place yourselves wholly under His protection, in and through them. How often are we exhorted to this. St. Peter, directing the elders, i. e., the ministers of the Church, to "feed the flock of God committed to their charge, that when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, they may receive a crown of glory," says, "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder; yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility; for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time: casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you."+ So doth St. Paul exhort: "Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves; for they watch for your souls as they that must give account; that they may do it with joy, and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you." As every elder of Christ should seek the counsel of God through the bishop placed over him in the Lord, so should you seek to be taught of God through the minister whom God has given you for that end. Thus honouring God, He

*Prov. xviii. 10. +1 Peter v. 5-7.

Heb. xiii. 17.

will honour you; yea, He will preserve, keep, and bless you; He will guide you here with His counsel, and afterward receive you with glory. There is no other way of safety for you. The way of self-sufficiency may "seem right in your own eyes, but the end thereof are the ways of death." Woe to them that shepherd themselves-that become their own teachers and instructors-who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight, saying, "We are as gods, knowing good and evil!" How great is the contrast which God has drawn between these two opposite characters by the prophet Isaiah: "Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks; walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have at mine hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow."* To the one, deliverance is held out; but to the other, disappointment, shame, and sorrow! And need I refer you, in further confirmation of this truth, to the epistle of St. Jude, where this self-sufficiency, in them that practise it, is compared to the gainsaying of Core? "These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear; clouds they are without water, carried about without winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; raging waves

* Isaiah 1. 10, 11.

of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever." Quotations may be made to this effect without end. Suffice it to say, that your safety is secured only by your abiding under headship. This truth must be acknowledged, not in word only, but in deed. It must be practised. That which produced the fall of man at the beginning was his departing from under headship-from under the headship of the Eternal Word, after whose image and likeness he was made. And that which leads to apostasy in the Christian Church is the same evil principle-the departing from under the headship of Christ, not acknowledging the Lord Jesus in His ordinance. Let me therefore call upon you, my Christian brethren, to search the Scriptures according to God's appointment: be ye taught by the Holy Spirit in the ministry of the word. Without the Spirit of God in the believer, enabling him to set his seal to the truth of God, vain would have been all teaching and feeding of God in His Church; because man, altogether destitute of spiritual discernment, could have received and comprehended nothing. And unless there had been ministers direct from God to man, vain would have been For of what use

this precious gift of God to him. are sight and hearing without light and sound? Even so, without the ministries of the Lord Jesus, and the light of God to shine upon the truth, His word would be useless. But God has abounded towards His Church in all things. He has not only given unto His baptized people the Holy Spirit, to enable

them to discern the truth; but He has also endowed His Church with various gifts of ministry, supplying her members with daily bread. Had it been otherwise ordained-had men received some additional gift by which they were to be made independent of each other, and of the ministries, would not God have called them separately, and not in a body? Then also there would have been no communion, but a feeding apart and alone, "each one eating his own supper;" and there would have been no ministry, but the written word only. But the contrary of this is true. We believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. God has called us in one body: as St. Paul speaks in the fourth chapter of his epistle to the Ephesians: "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and in all, and through you all." Such is the body of Christ; and men bring judgment on themselves when they do not discern it. On this account did the Corinthians suffer, and were warned by the Apostle, saying, "Therefore many are sickly among you, and many sleep." For the perfecting of the Church, which is Christ's body, and that we might not be blown about with every wind of doctrine by the cunning craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, God has set therein divers ministries. It is, therefore, of all things the most important, that you acknowledge the Lord Jesus in them, and seek the knowledge of the truth, not in separateness, but in the unity of the body. Let this be held, not theoretically merely,