_Two_ are all that I shall refer to: one is in my text; the other, which I advert to first, is elsewhere found; I mean the scriptural _Character_ of the true minister of CHRIST. You find it concisely expressed in 2 Tim. iv. 1–5, “I charge thee therefore before GOD and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and His kingdom,—_Preach the word_, be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all long-suffering and doctrine. Watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, _do the work of an evangelist_, _make full proof of thy ministry_.” And in 1 Tim. iv. 12, “Be thou _an example_ of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Take heed to thyself and to the doctrine: continue in them: for in so doing, thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.” {43} As to integrity in doctrine, enough has been said, we should imagine, to prove the true servant of CHRIST from the false, the Holy Scripture in its plainest sense being taken for our guide. And who, you ask, is to say what the standard of Scripture doctrine is, and so to determine what we ought to teach? You must _decide for yourselves_. “I speak as unto wise men; judge ye what ye say.” “Wisdom is justified of her children.” Nothing can possibly be plainer than Holy Scripture. _Pray for the HOLY SPIRIT to be your guide_ in understanding it. We shall soon see, if we have Him indeed, “who is the LORD’S, and who is holy,”—without his judgments to convince us. We must do the same with regard to ascertaining _who_ have that true consistency of ministerial character and conduct which is laid down in Scripture, and are therefore those, whom we should “follow; considering the end of their conversation, JESUS CHRIST, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever.” Consider, brethren, what and where the _power_ of godliness really is, and where _the form_; what and where is the most honest self-abasement, and where, on the other hand, the exaltation of man by means of office:—consider whether it be right to say, where the human commission is, there, and there only, all is right as to the SPIRIT; and not rather, where the SPIRIT is vitally proved to be, there, and there only, all is right as to the human commission: consider what is that dominion over the people’s faith, which is to be unselfishly repudiated; and who is their true servant, for JESUS sake, and the fellow-helper of their joy. Think whether it is indeed and beyond a doubt the fact, that you have yourselves “passed from death unto life,” and know what a wounded spirit is, and what the godly sorrow of a broken and contrite heart, and the agonizing conviction of being a sinner deserving eternal condemnation.