SERMON XII.

OBEDIENCE TO THE CHURCH, HER MINISTERS,

AND ORDINANCES.

HEBREWS xiii. 7. 8.

Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the Word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation: Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to day, and for ever.

It seems to be the opinion of some of the most eminent persons who have left us their commentaries on the Epistle to the Hebrews, that St. Paul is here referring to those Pastors or Bishops who were dead,-(having, perhaps, witnessed a good confession, and been "slain for the Word of God, and the testimony which they held,")—and not to the living rulers of

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the Hebrew Church;-the precepts, with respect to them, being given afterwards, in the seventeenth verse of the chapter before us. 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."

If this be a true view of the case, the passage I have chosen for my text must be looked upon as an exhortation to the Hebrew Christians to cherish the remembrance of those who, in times past, had preached and laboured among them; to adhere to the doctrine which they had taught, "Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to day, and for ever;" and to stablish themselves, amid their trials, by the recollections of the exemplary and glorious close of the lives of such holy men.

Even in those early days there had been a little band who had not "counted their lives dear unto themselves, that so they might finish their course with joy, and the ministry which they had received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of

the grace of God." Such had been holy Stephen, the Proto-martyr of the Church. Such was James, the brother of John, whom Herod killed with the sword. Such was Antipas, the "faithful martyr" of Christ, who was slain at Pergamos, and such, no doubt, were divers others whose names are written in imperishable characters in the Book of Life, though the world has forgotten them.

Now we, who live in these last times, are basking, as it were, in the full blaze of those luminaries which cheer and enlighten the Church of God. To us, perhaps, Christ is no where more fully revealed than in His Saints; no where have we such evidence of the regenerating, renewing, invigorating, sanctifying power of the grace of the Holy Spirit in the soul of man. To us the glorious company of the Apostles, the goodly fellowship of the Prophets, the blessed choir of pure and virgin souls who have kept themselves unspotted from the world, all speak one language of encouragement; they cheer us on to live as they lived, to love as they

loved, to serve as they served, to take warning by their errors, to follow them as they followed Christ.-We are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, that it were shame and disgrace unutterable if we failed to run with patience the race that is set before us. It is indeed one of our highest blessings that it is given to us to look back upon the triumphs of those Saints of God who fought a good fight, and kept the faith. And in proportion as we value this source of consolation ourselves, can we understand how encouraging to the Hebrews would be that exhortation which I have chosen for my text. It is evident that the Church was no longer at rest. Persecution lay in the way of all who endeavoured to live godly in Christ Jesus. They who went forth unto Him without the camp must needs bear His reproach. Difficulties were increasing, perils thickening, hearts failing. Should they go, or should they not go? They were honest and sincere, but they needed some thought to inspirit them to meet the assaults of the evil, cruel world; they de