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fighting and contending for our Religion; it is now high Time to practise it; and a better Foundation we cannot lay than in the Duties of the Text, To fear the Lord, and the King, and not to meddle with them that are given to change.

DISCOURSE II.

MATTHEW X. 41, 42.

He that receiveth a Prophet, in the Name of a Prophet, Shall receive a Prophet's Reward: And he that receiveth a righteous Man, in the Name of a righteous Man, fhall receive a righteous Man's Reward.

And whofoever shall give to drink unto one of thefe little Ones, a Cup of cold Water only, in the Name of a Difciple, verily, I Say unto you, be fhall in no wife lofe his Reward.

To

OWARDS the Beginning of this Chapter we read, that our Saviour sent forth his Difciples to preach the Kingdom of God. That they might preach with Authority, he endowed them with Power from

above, and with the manifold Gifts of the Spirit. That they might attend upon their Ministry without Distraction, he eased them of the Care of providing for themselves; and gave them Power to demand and receive of thofe under their Inftruction, whatever their Wants required. Provide, fays he, neither Gold, nor Silver, nor Brafs in your Purfes; nor Scrip for your Journey, neither two Coats, neither Shoes, nor yet Staves; for the Workman is worthy of his Meat, v. 9, 10. Or as St. Luke expresses it, The Labourer is worthy of his Hire, ch. x. 7. This Reafon fhews the true Senfe of the Precept; that it was not meant to take from them the Neceffaries and Conveniencies of Life, or to make Poverty a Part of their Profeffion; but only to discharge them of the Care and Solicitude of providing for themselves; for they had a Right to be provided for, by thofe whom they ferved in the Gofpel: For the Labourer is worthy of

his Hire.

And this further appears to be the Sense of this Precept in Luke xxii. 35. And be faid unto them, When I sent you without Purfe, and Scrip, and Shoes, lacked ye any Thing? And they faid, Nothing. Had it

been

been his Intent to make Poverty a necessary Qualification for the Ministry, he would not have asked this Queftion, or received this Answer. But fo little did he intend it, that his Care fupplied the Want of theirs throughout their Journey, and enlarged the Hearts of the People towards them: fo that their Poverty was turned into Plenty; and they preached the Gospel, without the Incumbrance of worldly Cares, as having Nothing, and yet poffefing all Things.

As the Office of preaching the Gospel was to be perpetual in the Chriftian Church, fo this Right of Maintenance was for ever to attend it; for the Lord ordained, as St. Paul tells us, that they which preach the Gofpel fhould live of the Gospel, 1 Cor. ix. 14. A Right on one Side infers a Duty on the other if the Minifters of the Gospel have a Right to be provided for, it is the Duty of the Faithful to provide for them; but the Proportion of this Maintenance being no where determined, but Men left to give as their Circumftances enable them, and as their Love and Honour for the Miniftry incline them; what is given upon this Account, comes to be confidered as a Charity freely offered, rather than as a Debt duly

discharged:

discharged and as fuch, our Saviour has promised to accept and reward it. And fince in this kind of Charity the Honour of his Name, and the promoting his Religion, are most immediately confulted, he has diftinguished it from all others by a more honourable and glorious Reward; He that receiveth a Prophet in the Name of a Prophet, fhall receive a Prophet's Reward, &c. John

xi. 12.

To receive a Prophet, fometimes fignifies to receive his Doctrine, and to become his Follower or Difciple; but in this Place it cannot fignify fo, for these two Reasons :

First, Our Saviour himself diftinguishes this Reception of a Prophet from the other Reception, which is obeying and hearkening to his Voice, in the 14th Verfe: Whofoever shall not receive you, nor hear your Words; when you depart out of that Houfe, or City, Shake off the Duft of your Feet. Had the fame Thing been intended by receiving and hearing a Prophet, the Words would have been thus connected: Whofoever fhall not receive you, and hear your Words; but the disjunctive Particle nor, fhews that they are here spoken of as different Things. The 11th Verse, compared with this 14th, will

determine

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