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commanding any thing to be observed or done, as 'Did we not strictly command you.' 'He charged him to tell no man.' Thus therefore it is that we are here enjoined to charge the rich in the name of the King of kings, not to be high-minded, nor to trust in uncertain riches, &c.

And this is the proper notion, and the only true way of preaching the word of God, which therefore in Scripture is ordinarily expressed by the word kerussein, which properly signifies to publish or proclaim, as heralds do, the will and pleasure of the prince, and in his name to command the people to observe it. Thus we are enjoined to preach the word of God, by publishing his will and pleasure to men; charging them in his name, to obey and practise it. For we come not to them in our own names, but in his that created and redeemed them; and therefore although we neither have, nor pretend to any power or authority over them, from ourselves, yet by virtue of the commission which we have received from the universal and supreme monarch of the world, we not only lawfully may, but are in duty bound, to charge and enjoin all in his name, to observe what he hath commanded them. Insomuch, that although we pretend not to divine inspiration, or immediate revelations from God, such as the prophets had; yet we, preaching the same word which they did, may, and often ought to use the same authority which they used, saying, as they did, 'Thus saith the Lord of hosts;" for whatsoever is written in the Scriptures, is as certainly God's word now, as it was when first in

1 Οὐ παρηγγελείᾳ παρηγγείλαμεν ὑμῖν.—Acts, v. 28.
2 Παρήγγειλε αὐτό. Luke, v. 14.

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spired or revealed to them. And therefore it cannot be denied, but that we have as much power to charge upon all the observation of what is there written, as they ever had; we being sent to preach and proclaim the will of God unto all, by the same person as they were. Hence it is that the apostle in the name of God commands Titus, and in him all succeeding ministers of the gospel, to speak or preach the word of God, to exhort and rebuke all with authority. From whence nothing can be more plain, than that it is our duty to preach with authority, as those who have received power from God to make known his will and pleasure to all men; or as the apostle here expressly words it, to 'charge them not to be high-minded,' and the like.

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But this I fear may be a very ungrateful subject to many, and therefore I should not have insisted so long upon it, but that there is a kind of necessity for it. For I verily believe, that the non-observance of this hath been, and still is, the principal reason why people receive so little benefit by hearing of sermons as they usually do: for they look upon sermons only as popular discourses, rehearsed by one of their fellow-creatures, which they may censure, approve, or reject, as themselves see good. And we ourselves, I fear, have been too faulty, or at least remiss, in this particular; in that when we preach, we ordinarily make a long harangue or oration concerning some point in polemical, dogmatical, or practical divinity, and use only some moral persuasions to press upon our auditors the observance of what we say, without interposing or

! Tit. ii. 15.

THOUGHTS UPON WORLDLY RICHES.

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SECT. II.

TIMOTHY, after his conversion to the Christian faith, being found to be a man of great parts, learning, and piety, and so every way qualified for the work of the ministry, St. Paul, who had planted a church at Ephesus, the metropolis or chief city of all Asia, left him to dress and propagate it, after his departure from it; giving him power to ordain elders or priests, and to visit and exercise jurisdiction over them, to see they did not teach false doctrines. That they were unblamable in their lives and conversations. And to exercise authority over them, in case they were otherwise. And therefore it cannot in reason but be acknowledged that Timothy was the bishop, superintendent, or visitor of all the Asian churches, as he was always asserted to have been by the fathers of the primitive church, as Eusebius reports, saying, Tuóleos Tis ἐν Ἐφέσῳ παροικίας ̇ ἱπορεῖται πρῶτω τὴν ἐπισκοπὴν Eiλnxéval, that Timothy is reported to have been the first bishop of the province of Ephesus. Be sure he had the oversight of all the churches that were planted there; and not only in Ephesus itself, but likewise in all Asia, which was subject to his ecclesiastical power and jurisdiction.

And hence it is that the apostle St. Paul, in his first epistle to him, gives him directions how to

1 ] Tim. i. 3.

2 Ib. v. 7.

3 Ib. v. 19.

manage so great a work, and to discharge so great a trust as was committed to him, both as bishop and priest; both how to ordain and govern others, and likewise how to preach himself the gospel of Christ. And having spent the whole epistle in directions of this sort, in the close of it, as it were, at the foot of the epistle, he subjoins one general caution to be observed by him: Charge them that are rich,' &c. Which words, though first directed to Timothy, were in him intended for all succeeding ministers and preachers of the gospel; such I mean who are solemnly ordained and set apart for this work. We are all obliged to observe the command which is here laid upon us, as without which we are never likely to do any good upon them that hear us for so long as their minds are set altogether upon riches, and the things of this world, we may preach our hearts out before we can ever persuade them to mind heaven and eternal happiness in good earnest. This St. Paul knew well enough, and therefore hath left this not only as his advice and counsel, but as a strict command and duty incumbent upon the preachers of the gospel in all ages, that they charge them that are rich,' &c. Where it must be observed, in the first place, how we are expressly enjoined to charge them that are rich,' &c. a word much to be observed. The apostle doth not say, desire, beseech, counsel, or admonish the rich, but παράγγελλε τοῖς πλεσίοις, charge and command them that are rich.' The word properly signifies such a charge as the judges at an assize or sessions make in the king's name, enjoining his subjects to observe the established laws and statutes of the kingdom. And so the word is always used in Scripture for the strictest way of

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commanding any thing to be observed or done, as 'Did we not strictly command you." He charged him to tell no man.'2 Thus therefore it is that we are here enjoined to charge the rich in the name of the King of kings, not to be high-minded, nor to trust in uncertain riches, &c.

And this is the proper notion, and the only true way of preaching the word of God, which therefore in Scripture is ordinarily expressed by the word kerussein, which properly signifies to publish or proclaim, as heralds do, the will and pleasure of the prince, and in his name to command the people to observe it. Thus we are enjoined to preach the word of God, by publishing his will and pleasure to men; charging them in his name, to obey and practise it. For we come not to them in our own names, but in his that created and redeemed them; and therefore although we neither have, nor pretend to any power or authority over them, from ourselves, yet by virtue of the commission which we have received from the universal and supreme monarch of the world, we not only lawfully may, but are in duty bound, to charge and enjoin all in his name, to observe what he hath commanded them. Insomuch, that although we pretend not to divine inspiration, or immediate revelations from God, such as the prophets had; yet we, preaching the same word which they did, may, and often ought to use the same authority which they used, saying, as they did, 'Thus saith the Lord of hosts;' for whatsoever is written in the Scriptures, is as certainly God's word now, as it was when first in

1 Οὐ παρηγγελείᾳ παρηγγείλαμεν ὑμῖν.—Acts, v. 28.
Παρήγγειλε αὐτό.—Luke, v. 14.

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