SERMON.

ACTS xx. 28.

"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the Flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you Overseers, to feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood." THE words of the text form a part of that solemn and touchingly-affectionate address which the Apostle Paul delivered to the Ministers of the Ephesian Church, whom, as he was on his way to Jerusalem to celebrate the feast of Pentecost, he sent for, that they should meet him at Miletus. And whether we consider the eminent personal character of the Apostle who spoke, or the affecting circumstances under which he addressed his hearers, or the intensely-solemn nature of his appeal, there is every thing to render this passage of Holy Scripture most deeply interesting to any heart which has a love for Christian truth, and to any mind which is not altogether dead to the pathetic eloquence of the parting admonition of a minister so celebrated, and a Christian so excellent, as St. Paul.

As soon as the Elders of the Ephesian Church had come to Miletus, in obedience to the Apostle's

call, he commenced his address to them by appealing to their own knowledge of the manner in which his personal ministry in their church had been conducted. "Ye know," said he, " from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving the Lord with all humility of mind; and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have shewed you and have taught you publicly, and from house to house. Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ." He then declares his assured expectation of heavy afflictions and sufferings about to befall himself; but, unmoved by difficulties and discouragements, he is anxious for nothing but that he might be found faithful to the trust reposed in him, and finish his course, and give up his stewardship with joy. Then comes the announcement of his hour of separation from them, and that he was now about to take his final leave of them. "And now, behold," said he, "I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, shall see my face no more;"-" wherefore," added he, appealing to their own consciences concerning his zealous and faithful discharge of his ministry amongst them, "I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men; for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the

counsel of God." And then, in the words of the text, he admonishes them to follow the zealous and consistent example he had given them, charging them to look to it that they should bestow the greatest pains in the exercise of their ministry, and discharge it with diligence and faithfulness like himself. As if he had said, Ye will see my face no more; ye will now no longer have my instructions to direct, nor my example to guide you; "take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the Church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."

Such was the parting admonition of the great Apostle of the Gentiles to the Ministers and Pastors of the Ephesian Church, an admonition which is selected as the subject for our consideration at this season in particular, because it cannot be otherwise than highly important in all ages and in all branches of Christ's Church, and because, by the blessing of God, it is so eminently calculated to produce in the minds of her Ministers the deepest and most abiding sense of the highlysolemn duties and responsibilities of their sacred office, for the discharge of which they will one day be called upon to answer at the dread judgmentseat of Him who purchased that Church with his own blood. With his own blood! What an

overwhelming depth of meaning is there in these few words! The whole Scripture, with all its mysteries, contains not a declaration more astounding than this, that the cost of the Church was the blood of Him who was "God with us;" of Him, who was "God manifest in the flesh," "the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world," "in whom we have redemption through his blood."

The blood, therefore, of redemption, which is the purchase of the Church, and the ransom of the redeemed, is the blood of the "Word who was made flesh," of Him "in whom dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily." If, then, there be any consideration which infinitely beyond all others increases the high and holy obligation of the Christian Ministry, it is, that the Church, the flock of Christ, which they are appointed-called, as they solemnly profess, by the Holy Ghost-to watch over and to feed, was purchased at a price so inestimable. How highly God prizes that Church, how dearly he estimates that flock, can best be inferred from the rate at which he purchased it. The immensity of the cost is indeed beyond the faculties of man or angel to conceive; but the fact is indelibly recorded in the word of truth; and each one of ourselves, when he entered upon the sacred office of the Ministry, has publicly declared his full and solemn belief that the Church is so purchased, implying the avowal of his entire persuasion and confidence