e from God to yourself. For such
truly is every evangelical minister of Christ. (2.) Diligently compare
the doctrines, which you hear from the pulpit, with the Holy Scriptures,
and receive nothing which does not agree with them. The figure used in
the passage referred to, (2 Cor. 5:20,) is borrowed from the practice of
one government sending a person on a particular errand to another. The
analogy in this case, however, does not hold good throughout. It is like
a sovereign sending an ambassador to persuade rebels against his
government to submit to him, and accept of pardon. But, in such a case,
it would be possible, either for some person, who was not sent, to
deliver a false message in the name of the king, or for one who was
really sent, to deliver a different message from the one sent by him. So
it is in relation to preachers of the gospel. There are many, whom
Christ has never sent, who are spreading abroad lies over the land; and
there are others, really sent by Christ, who have, in some respects,
misapprehended his meaning, and therefore do not deliver his message
just as he has directed. But, our blessed Lord, foreseeing this, has
wisely and kindly given us a _check book_, by which we may discover
whether those who speak in his name tell the truth. Hence we are
commanded to "search the Scriptures," and to "try the spirits, whether
they be of God." And the Bereans were commended as more noble, because
they searched the Scriptures daily, to know whether the things preached
by the apostles were so. If, then, they were applauded for trying the
preaching of the apostles by the word of God, surely we may try the
preaching of uninspired men by the same standard. (3.) Beware of a
fault-finding spirit. There are some persons, who indulge such a habit
of finding fault with preaching, that they never receive any benefit
from it. Either the matter of the sermon, the apparent feeling of the
preacher, or his style and manner of delivery, does not suit them, and
therefore they throw away all the good they might have obtained from his
discourse. Remember that preachers of the gospel are but men. So weak
are they, that the apostle compares them to "earthen vessels." Do not,
then, expect perfection. Bear with their infirmities. Receive their
instructions as the bread which your heavenly Father has provided for
the nourishment of your soul. Do not ungratefully spurn it from you.
What would you think, to see a child throwing away the