are to teach them to be obedient to him. And it deserves notice, that all the duties christian elders are called on officially to discharge, are duties which the christian brethren are substantially called on to perform. They are to "exhort one another daily while it is called to-day;" they are all of them to "look diligently, lest any man fail of the grace of God." And the graces, which are required in the christian life, are just those which must be manifested in the right discharge of pastoral duty.'

A christian elder cannot neglect duty, cannot commit sin of any kind, without doing more harm than a common church member; and no kind of neglect or fault is likely to exercise a more malignant influence, than those which refer to official obligations. The christian elder, therefore, should seek to be "an example to the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity; showing himself a pattern of good works." What a blessed influence is the holy character and conduct of christian elders calculated to diffuse through the church! In certain cases they should readily waive undoubted rights, that they may be the better able to give a needed example. They should imitate Paul: "Yourselves know," says he, to the Thessalonians, "how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; neither did we eat any man's bread for naught; but wrought with labor and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you: not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us. How happy is it when they can say, "We beseech you be followers of us as dear children; be followers of us even as we also are of Christ!" After a christian elder has said to those under his care, "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things," what a powerful enforcement is it to the exhortation, when the eloquence of a holy example, more persuasive than words, is felt in the heart of every hearer, saying, "Those things which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you!" 3

"2

The two parts of the clause under remark throw light on each other. The elder who lords it over his brethren, is not, cannot be, "an ensample" to the flock. He is the very reverse of an ensample. He exemplifies the temper which they ought most carefully to avoid; and, on the other hand, if the elder acts as an ensample to the flock, he cannot lord it over them. The domineering elder cannot be an exemplary elder, and the exemplary elder cannot be a domineering elder. Nothing sits so gracefully on the ruler in the christian church as kind condescension. Nothing is more unbecoming in him than overbearing haughtiness. The Master is the great model. Ye call

1 "Ea debet esse Pastoris vita ut non solum quicquid loquitur, sed etiam quicquid agit, sit auditorum doctrina."-GERHARD. "Monstrosa res est gradus summus et animus infimus; sedes prima et vita ima; lingua magniloqua et vita otiosa; sermo multus et fructus nullus; vultus gravis et actus levis; ingens auctoritas et nutans stabilitas." -BERNARD. ร Phil. iv. 8, 9.

2 Acts xx. 34, 35. 2 Thess. iii. 7.

am.

If I then, your

me Master and Lord and ye say well; for so I Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord; neither is he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If christian elders know these things, happy will it be for themselves and for the churches if they do them."1

Such is the temper in which the duties of christian elders should be performed, not reluctantly, but cheerfully; not mercenarily, but disinterestedly, from love to God and love to the brethren; not ambitiously, to display or establish superiority and rule, but humbly, for the purpose of setting an example of christian obedience; not to glorify themselves but to edify the brethren.

CHAP. IV.-OF THE MOTIVES TO THESE DUTIES.

It still remains for us on this part of our subject to attend to the motives by which the apostle urges christian elders to discharge their duties in this manner. These motives are derived from considerations referring personally to the apostle-"I exhort you; I who am a fellow-elder, a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed;" from considerations referring to the church-it is "the flock of God," "God's heritage ;" and from considerations referring to the office-bearers themselves-if they perform their duties in this way, "when the chief Shepherd appears, they shall receive a crown of glory, which fadeth not." Let us shortly endeavor to bring out the force of the motives arising from these three sources.

§1.-Motives suggested by the apostle's reference to himself.

(1.) He was also an elder.

And first, let us consider the motives suggested by the apostle's reference to himself. "The elders who are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker of the glory which shall be revealed." I exhort, says Peter; and who was he? "An apostle of Jesus Christ," one of those so specially commissioned by Christ Jesus to act the part of ambassadors in his room, who is the great ambassador from God; as that when they exhorted it was "as though God did beseech men" by them; to whom he had said, As the Father had sent me, so I send you; whatsoever ye bind on earth is bound in heaven; whatsoever ye loose on earth is loosed in heaven; he that receiveth you, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me; he that despiseth you, despiseth me: and he who despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me;" to whom the Son of Man, on sitting down on the throne of his glory, gave twelve thrones, on which they should sit and

1 John xiii. 13-17.

2 “Tres sunt ministerii ecclesiastici pestes, ἀεργία, αἰσχροκερδεία et φιλοπρωτεία.”GEE

HARD.

judge, rule the twelve tribes of the spiritual Israel; who, along with the inspired prophets, are the foundation on which the church is built, and whose names are represented in the Apocalypse as engraved on the jewelled foundations of the New Jerusalem. An exhortation from such a quarter was equivalent to a command. He that rejected the apostles, "rejected not men, but God, who had given them hist Spirit" while they spoke as apostles, Christ, and God in Christ, spoke by them. An apostolical exhortation is equivalent to a Divine command.

The apostles, though possessed of this authority, made no unnecessary display of it. It was generally acknowledged by the churches; and though they sometimes found it requisite to "command," as well as to exhort, in the name of the Lord Jesus, yet for the most part, "though they might be much bold in Christ" to enjoin that which was convenient, they "rather, for love's sake, besought" those whom they addressed. The injunction lost none of its intrinsic authority from the form it took; and, while more agreeable to him who gave, was not likely to be less influential on those to whom it was given. Peter not only uses the word exhort instead of command, but, instead of using the official appellation which was peculiar to the highest order of the church officers, apostle, he employs that of "elder," which in its most general acceptation includes all church rulers. He does not take the name which distinguishes him from, but that which identifies him with, those whom he addresses.

Peter speaks of "the wisdom given to his beloved brother Paul;" and it is plain he himself had been made partaker of the same spirit of wisdom and of love. 'I am,' says the venerable apostle, 'I am a co-presbyter, a fellow-elder. I know what it is to have a charge in the house of God. I have felt the responsibilities arising out of the command to feed the sheep, to feed the lambs of the great, good Shepherd. I know the duties of the christian pastor; I know his difficulties; I know his temptations; I know his joys; I know his sorrows. I know the heart of the christian elder. The exhortation comes from one who can, who does, thoroughly sympathize with you.' 2

The kindly condescending address of the apostle was calculated to give additional force to his exhortation, and its peculiar form is surely intended to teach elders, especially old elders, men who have been long in office in God's church, to use the influence which, if they have in any measure rightly discharged their duty, they must have acquired, in exhorting their fellow-elders, especially those younger than themselves, to diligence and fidelity in the duties of their common offices. "The duty of mutual exhorting, which lies on each Christian to another, is little known amongst the greater part; but surely pastors should be, as in other duties so in this, eminent and exemplary in their intercourse and converse, saying often one to another, 'Oh, let us remember to what we are called, to how high and

1 2 Cor. v. 20. Matt. xvi. 19; xviii. 18. Matt. x. 40. John xiii. 20. Matt. xix. 28. Eph. ii. 20. Rev. xxi. 14.

"Est autem eximia modestia, quod se ovμrpeoẞórepov, ipse nominat, quem caput et principem apostolorum postea confinxerunt, et vicedeum adeo."-SEMLER.

heavy a charge! to what holiness and diligence! How great the hazard of our miscarriage, and how great the reward of our fidelity!" whetting and sharpening one another by those weighty and holy considerations." It is peculiarly becoming in old christian elders to say to their young brethren, especially when the exhortation is enforced by a protracted course of faithful services to Christ and his church, "Take heed to the ministry which ye have received of the Lord, that ye fulfil it." Such exhortations given in the right spirit seldom fail of doing good.

(2.) He was a witness of the sufferings of Christ.

To give further weight to his exhortation, the apostle not only calls himself a fellow-elder, but "a witness of the sufferings of Christ." "The sufferings of Christ," which the ancient prophets are in the first chapter (v. 11) represented as witnesses of, as testifying about, are not, as I endeavored to show when explaining that part of the epistle, the personal sufferings of our Lord, but the "sufferings until Christ," or "the sufferings in reference to Christ," as the words literally signify, "the sufferings of the present time," to which for a season it is needful that Christians be exposed, as contrasted with the glory which is to follow, the salvation laid up in heaven, the grace to be brought to Christians at the revelation of our Lord Jesus. And some have supposed that the phrase "sufferings of Christ" has the same meaning here, and that the apostle expresses the same sentiment as the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians, when he says, "We told you before that we should suffer tribulation." There can be no doubt that Peter as well as Paul, when confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, did testify, that "through much tribulation they must enter into the kingdom." We find him doing so in this epistle, and this was in itself a good reason why he should exhort the office-bearers to a conscientious performance of their duties, for that, important at all times, becomes doubly so in a time of trial. But the expression here is not the same as that in the first chapter, and seems varied to show that it refers to Christ's personal sufferings, and not to the sufferings of his body, the church, till he comes.

Of these sufferings Peter was "a witness." These words may signify that the sufferings of Christ were a principal subject of Peter's testimony as an apostle. The apostles, after they received power through the Holy Ghost coming upon them, were, according to their Master's appointment and prediction, "witnesses unto him both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." And wherever they went, the cross was the great theme of their testimony, The Messiah they proclaimed was the crucified Messiah, "a stumbling-block to the Jews, foolishness to the Greeks; but to the called, whether Jew or Greek, the power of God, the wisdom of God." Peter, judging of the ministry from his discourses recorded in the Acts of the Apostles and in this epistle, had, as well as Paul, "determined to know nothing among his con

1 Acts xiv. 22.

verts but Jesus Christ and him crucified." He, too, could say, "God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified to me, and I to the world."1

It appears to me, however, more natural to understand the words, "a witness of the sufferings of Jesus Christ," in their most obvious sense as equivalent to, I saw Jesus Christ suffer. It is as if he had said, 'He who addresses you, and calls on you to be faithful to Christ, and to the church purchased by his blood, knows well how strong are his claims on you, how strong is his regard for them. With these eyes I have seen the Eternal Word, the Lord of Glory, a poor, destitute, afflicted, tormented, despised, dying, dead man. I heard his groans in Gethsemane. I saw his sweat, as it were great drops of blood, falling to the ground. I saw him betrayed by one of his disciples, Judas. I saw him deserted by them all. I saw him insulted and abused before the high priest. I saw how deeply he felt, and how tenderly he forgave, my base denial of him.' And as we can scarcely persuade ourselves that Peter and the other apostles were not witnesses of the last scene of suffering, it is as if he said, 'I saw him affixed, like a felonious slave, to the cross. I heard the wail of agony, 'My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me!" I heard, though I then understood it not, the mysterious parting cry, "It is finished." Having witnessed all this, is it wonderful that His words who thus suffered for me, for you, for the flock committed to our care, that his words, Lovest thou me? feed my lambs; Lovest thou me? feed my sheep; Lovest thou me? feed my sheep-should be continually sounding in my ears, continually weighing on my heart, and that I should with deep earnestness exhort you to do that which he so impressively commanded me to do?'

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These, indeed, are things that give great weight to a man's words, make them powerful and pressing, a witness of the sufferings of Christ.' The apostles had a singular advantage in this that they were eye-witnesses; and Paul, who wanted that, had it supplied by a vision of Christ at his conversion. But certainly a spiritual view of Christ crucified is generally, I will not say absolutely, necessary to make a minister of Christ. It is certainly very requisite for the due witnessing of him, so to preach the gospel as one before whose eyes Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth crucified.' Men commonly read and hear, and may possibly preach, of the sufferings of Christ as a common story, and in that way it may a little move a man and wring tears from his eyes; but faith hath another kind of sight of them, and so works another kind of affection. By the eye of faith to see the only begotten Son of God, as stricken and smitten of God, bearing our sorrows and wounded for our transgressions; Jesus Christ, the righteous, reckoned among the unrighteous and malefactors; to see him stript naked, and scourged, and buffeted, and reviled, and dying, and all for us; this is the thing that will bind upon us most strongly all the duties of Christianity, and of our callings; and best enable us according to our callings to bind them upon others."'

1 1 Cor. i. 23. Gal. vi. 14.

2 Αὐτόπται.

• Leighton.

1