DISCOURSE I.

MATTHEW VII. 15, 16.

Beware of False Prophets, who come unto you in Sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening Wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.

GOD has, in all ages, had a church in the world; and he will continue it, until the world shall be no more. His church has subsisted in different forms; but under every form he has appointed, that there should be public teachers in it, to open the important truths, and inculcate the sacred duties of religion. Under the old testament there were prophets, and under the new testament there were apostles, ordained for this end: And Christ has plainly signified, that the order of religious teachers shall be preserv

ed, until the saints shall be gathered together, in one body in heaven.

As in all ages there have been public teachers of religion, so there have also been false teachers, who have assumed a sacred character, and with corrupt views, have endeavoured to draw away disciples after them. There were false prophets among the Jews; and Christ and his apostles have warned us, that there shall be false teachers among Christians, who shall privily bring in dangerous heresies, and corrupt men from the simplicity of the gospel.

Our Saviour says in the text, Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.

But if they come in sheep's clothing, how shall we distinguish them from sheep: Christ adds, By their fruits ye shall know them. They may carry on the deception for a time; but their corrupt dispositions. will, sooner or later, betray them. Observe their motions, and you will perceive the ferocity, wildness, and greediness of the wolf,

notwithstanding the stolen fleece on their

backs.

My brethren, as this is a time when errour and wickedness much abound; when new and strange doctrines are taught; and when teachers, of one sort and another, are starting up with pretentions to guide souls in the way to heaven-it concerns you carefully to distinguish between true teachers and corrupt seducers. That you may the more easily guard against the common danger, I shall lay before you with great plainness, the marks by which false teachers are to be known. I shall not apply these marks to any sect or denomination; I shall only point them out to you exactly as they lie in the scriptures, and shall leave you to make the application, as you may find occasion.

I. They who refuse to enter into office, in the way which the gospel prescribes, are to be rejected: They have one plain mark of false teachers. As this is the grand mark of distinction, I shall consider it largely.

Our Saviour says, John x. 1. He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but

climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. Christ is the door; not only the door by which the sheep enter into the fold, to enjoy the shepherd's care, as mentioned verse 9, but also the door by which the shepherd enters to take the charge of the sheep; as here represented. To enter by the door, is to enter by Christ, and in conformity to the order which he has appointed. The qualifications requisite in public teachers and the manner of induction to the sacred office, are pointed out in various parts of scripture, and very particularly in Paul's epistles to Timothy and Titus. It is there required, that they be men furnished with competent knowledge and learning, especially in divine things; not novices-that they be sound in faith; not corrupters of the word of God-that they be holy and blameless in their lives; not chargeable with any vice-that they be men of general good report; not of unknown, much less of infamous character; and that they be tried and approved by the elders of the

church; not such as rashly intrude themselves into office.

The apostle says, Heb. v. 4. No man taketh this honour to himself, but he only has a right to it, who is called of God, as was Aaron, and as were his sons. How they were called, we are informed in the 28th chapter of Exodus. They were consecrated to the priesthood by Moses, God's minister, who was commanded to separate that family from among the children of Israel, and to anoint, sanctify and consecrate them, that they might minister in the priest's office.'

Speaking of the call of the Gentiles, Rom. x. 14. the apostle asks, how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? There must be a sending, a regular mission, to authorise them to preach the gospel.

That the work of public teaching in the church is not common to every Christian, who is pleased to assume it; but peculiar to some, to those who are sent, and called thereto in the gospel way, the apostle plainly instructs us in his epistle to the Ephesians,