commanded to "study to be quiet and to do his own business, and to work with his own hands." As we ought not to suffer our worldly calling to make us negligent in doing the work of the Lord by due attention to our religious exercises, so we may be assured, that the Lord never intends that by doing his work we should be made negligent in doing the particuJar duty of that state of life, to which it hath pleased him to call us. When most diligently employed in the proper duties of our station, always understanding that those duties do not preclude us from the discharge of the duties which we owe immediately to God, we have then most reason to be assured that we enjoy the divine favour and blessing.

From his secular business however Andrew was now called for a special purpose to be the constant attendant and follower of Jesus; and in obedience to the call, he together with his companions" forsook all and followed him." What shall we say now of their conduct in this respect? What indeed can we reasonably say, but that having been witnesses of the most wonderful acts performed by the word of Jesus, acts plainly surpassing all human power to perform them, acts unequivocally performed to the

a 1 Thess. iv. 11.

senses of the beholders, and upon the reality of which the senses were capable of deciding; that being themselves in full possession of their senses, and therefore not liable to be deceived, if indeed it were possible to suppose a purpose of deceiving them; that being endowed with sound understandings and sobriety of mind, and therefore not liable to be hurried away by a frantick zeal or a blind enthusiasm; and having withal no temptation to espouse the cause of Jesus, except on the supposition of their conviction of its goodness, but on the contrary having every worldly motive to renounce it; they were constrained by the resistless evidence of truth to acknowledge him for their Lord, and to submit themselves implicitly and exclusively to his direction? How lovely and exemplary was their obedience in " forsaking all and following" the blessed Jesus! How firm and immoveable is the foundation, which they have left by their obedience, for the restingplace of our Christian faith! How forcible is the example which they have set us for "forsaking all and following" Christ, if he should ever see fit to call us to a surrender of our temporal possessions for his sake; at all events, for "forsaking all" things which impede us in the course of our Christian calling, and for

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'following" him in purity of heart, and righte ousness and holiness of life!

Andrew had been before a disciple of Jesus. He was now become his constant follower and attendant; and so he was in the way of being qualified for the performance of the high office of a preacher of the Gospel, which his Lord intended that he should bear. But in order to his due discharge of that office, a special appointment to it was requisite; and so he was "called and chosen" from among the other disciples, to be one of "the twelve whom our Lord also named Apostles," and was "ordained and sent forth" to preach the Gospel to the world." "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved," saith St. Paul in the epistle for this day. But, as he proceeds, call on him in whom

"how then shall they they have not believed? and how shall they be lieve in him, of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things"!" Whence it appears, that as believing in the Lord is necessary

Rom. x. 13, 14, 15.

in order to calling upon him, and as hearing is necessary in order to believing, and as preaching is necessary in order to hearing; so also for the preacher himself it is necessary that he be sent. A man may be trained in the school of Christ, he may be admitted into Christ's family, and become his stated and regular follower, but he is not thereby qualified to become" a minister of Christ and a steward of the mysteries of God." However otherwise qualified by personal holiness and religious zeal, "no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron," and the Levitical priesthood under the Law, and Andrew and the Apostles under the Gospel, and after them such as derive their office from them by regular transmission, being "lawfully called and sent to execute the same. And those we ought to judge lawfully called and sent, which be chosen and called to this work by men who have publick authority given unto them in the congregation to call and send ministers into the Lord's vineyard." Then may we reasonably hope, that the ministration of the preacher will, like that of Andrew, be in its due degree blessed by the Lord, when, like that of Andrew, it is

undertaken by the Lord's authority and appointment.

But in adverting to the success of the minis try of our Apostle and his brethren in the Apostolate, how can we sufficiently admire the divine wisdom and power in the choice of such men for the propagation of the Gospel through the world! The blessed Jesus appeared on earth for the purpose of subjecting it to the belief and profession of a new religion. And what was his appearance? A person, of a despised nation, of humble parentage, of a mean trade, of indigent circumstances, destitute of every re commendation of human rank, or knowledge, or opulence, or power. And whom did he se lect to be his instruments for this stupendous work? The high-born prince the aspiring warrior? the subtle politician? the acute philosopher? the rich, the wise, the mighty, the noble ones of the earth? Nay; but he chose the simple fisherman, the industrious tent maker, the despised publican; men, scorned as Jews by the rest of mankind, and. as the meanest, and in some cases as the worst, of the Jews by the Jews themselves. "Ye see your calling, brethren," saith St. Paul," how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called: but God hath chosen