S s c r.IX. ofCarrfterfton, or TurningtoGa., 405 Theyare likepoifoned Fountains or Springs, which do prefently conveighpoifon th all that drinkofthem.Now as theirfin is decyphered,fo theirjudgment is threatned ver,ry. grief andbeam trouble of mind;forfaith God, l tviU feedtbemwithworm wood, and aoakethemdrin&tbe Water ofgall. They fed the people with Gall in theirdeceiving Sermons, and Godhe feeds them with Wormwood. Nowmy Text doth by way of contrarie aggravate the fad and damnable tffeétsofa corrupt and finfull Miniílry ; forwhereas verfe 14 be bad (hewed that they didErengehen the handsof wicked doers, fochat nonedid return from his evil!' wayee. On the contrary, in my Text he declareth thegood, and foul-faving eff.ft of it, in, cafe of *godly and confcientiousdifchargeof their Funftion. So that in the words you have good qualifications fuppofed : and fecondly the godly and bleffed fucceffe thatwill flow from hence. Thegood qualifications fuppofed are two Foft, if ehcyósadffoad in my Cou»fall. To underftand the full fenfeof this con= Eder, r Kings 2 z. 19 and ?ob 1.6. Where God is defcribed as aJudge fittingups onhis Throne, and all the Hofe of heaven !landing by himon his right hand, and onhis left ; fo that the meaning is, If thofe Prophets had not delivered the ima- gination of their own hearts, but had attended for mycommands, had received allfromme, as the. Angelsdo; then,&e. And further rite, that To Rand before one, is an Hebraifm, delcribing the ready pallore of fervants, to receive any command. Thus gehezi is laid to (}and before hisMailer ; and we are forbidden tovffend any of thofe little ones, besaufe their Angels behold alwayes the face of God, Mao r g. 20. The fecund qualification fioweth from the fortner,.4sdeaufe thepeople to bear my 'worse. The falie Prophets preached their own words of peace to them, whom God turfed ; but they mull be like theTrumpet, that fends forth np other voice than was breathed into them. Embafladors mull !jeep themfelves flriftly to the words of their Commiffïon; and Executors to the Will of Teflators : forIf it be but a mans Tellament, no man may add to ic, how much snore to a Divine ? The next thing fuppofed, is the good fucceffe, They Ad!be Fifiersof mess in. deed;thoughwhile they followed their oivn ways,they laboured all night andday, and took nothing ; yet then Chrift will command them to throw in the fist, and they (hall catch abundantly. When they thus waterand plant, Godwillgive great increafe. Doecr. That the tiftinifry of God faithfully difebarged, according to Gods oxen jat#e' Latinfel,ie afareway to tarn men from their.fns. Toexplain this,confider : Ertl, That godhatbfirmly and immoveably fee inifl'ersandPallors, sir their Office in the Church , forglórione andfupernarural effeiïs. That although God waspleafed tomake the world, theold Creature; by,bis Ownword immediately, urîng no Angels,or other things as infirumenta ( nay they could not be tiled infiru- mentally to thatinfinite workofCreation) yet he is pleafed toappoint fpiritual( Officersin the Church, To beco- worlters, as theApofllefaith, withhim, a Cot, 6,r Not that they có-operate with God, in the infufing,of grace in the foul, (no,that is Godstolework) but they prepare and difpole the fubjeftin a morali way, by convincingand inftru6ting theConfciences or their hearer(. That God bath thus firmly appointed fuch fpirituall Offices is plain; I Cor, 12, 28. Godbath fee femur in his Chnrb, let as hebath let the Sun and Stars in the Firmament r and thenhe reckonsup extraordinary andordinary Offices ; and theft are called gifts given to men,and the fruitsof his Afcention E'phef.4,r s. where they are again entïmerated Sothat by theft places, youfee aMiniílry is a DivineOffice, a plant of Gods own planting t and that it is not a temporary, but a perpetual Office appeáceth by their end, which is perpecual,Epb, 4.53. till we allcome to a full nature in Chrift : And, theApolu1 in his Epiflles to Tinrotlj, layingdown theCharaiers and Qualitiesof ford ;
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