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to the appearance of the chief Shepherd. If you are faithful to him, and his cause, you will have his approbation, before assembled worlds. "Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful in a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”

In the next place, let me speak a few words to the beloved church and society, who are now about to have a pastor set over

them.

My dear friends,

I heartily rejoice with you, that after a season of darkness and difficulty, God has, I trust, in answer to your humble and fervent prayers, led you to the choice of a pastor, who, we hope, will approve himself one after his own heart; and be a great blessing to you. Behold the man whom you have called to this important office; and who is, this day, devoting himself to the service of your souls, in the gospel of Christ! You have heard something of the greatness and difficulty of his work. I hope you are affected with it, as well as he. He is to preach to you, "Christ Jesus the Lord "-the glories of his person and offices-his perfect example and his heavenly doctrine. In such preaching, I trust, you will take great satisfaction; by it be greatly edified. He "who holdeth the stars in his right hand," hath placed several "burning and shining lights in this golden candlestick;" hath set over this ancient church, several able and faithful ministers of the New Testament; who assisted your pious ancestors, in the way to heaven, whose memories are still precious with you. Though you may have reason to lament, that you have not brought forth fruit, answerable to your privileges, and to God's just expectations; yet he is not depriving you of the means of fruitfulness. He is not leaving you to be scattered, as sheep that have no shepherd. He is sending one to take the charge of your souls, who I hope, will be an instrument of great good to you, and to your children. Need I bespeak your tender affection for him? I trust he already enjoys it; and that his conduct will be such, as to deserve it still more and more. The character which this town hath sustained, for generations past, of being peaceable, candid and liberal, towards those who have faithfully served them in the gospel of Christ, I hope, you will never forfeit. This is undoubtedly a great encouragement to him whom you have called to the pastoral office, in taking it upon him, at this difficult day. "I beseech you, brethren, to know him, who is to labor among you, and to be over you in the Lord, and to admonish you, and to esteem him highly in love, for his work's sake; and to be at peace among yourselves." Do what you can to encourage his heart, and to strengthen his hands. Be importunate in your prayers to God for him. Treat his person and character with tenderness. Let him

find you of an attentive and teachable disposition. Let him see you prizing a glorious Christ, whom he will be daily recommending to you-obedient to his gospel, and "walking in all his commandments and ordinances blameless." Such evidences of your regard

to him, and of his usefulness to you, will be a noble support, under all his labors and trials.

We deprecate the reverse of this. give him occasion to carry this mournful complaint to his Lord: We entreat you would not "I have labored in vain, and spent my strength for nought." Should this be the unhappy case, how will it discourage his heart! How will it sink his spirits! The present grief will indeed be his, but the future dreadful consequences, yours. His fidelity will be rewarded: Though his people should not "be gathered" home to Christ, by his faithful labors, "yet will he be glorious in the eyes of the Lord." But the doom of disobedient hearers will be executed on you. "Take these unprofitable servants, and cast them into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." "But, beloved, we would hope better things of you, and things which accompany salvation, though we thus speak.' We pray God to give your pastor a long and successful ministry, among you. We wish grace, mercy and peace, from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ, may be multiplied unto you. And that he and you may be each other's crown of rejoicing, in the day of Christ's appearing.

I shall finish the discourse, with a word to this numerous assembly. You have heard whom the ministers of the gospel are to preach: And whom they preach, you must receive, by a true and living faith. Unless you do so, you will perish for ever. Dreadfully dangerous is your condition, while you continue in unbelief. You are every moment obnoxious to the wrath of Almighty God, and to the condemning sentence of his violated law; which once executed upon you, will never, never be repealed. May you now be awakened to a sense of your danger, that you may flee from God's impending wrath, to Christ, the only refuge the only Saviour of perishing souls.

And as to you, who have known the grace of God in truth, O! be entreated," as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so to walk in him." Grow in your acquaintance with him, and conformity to him. Let nothing short of perfection bound your desires. Keep heaven much in your eye. So run the Christian race that you may obtain the prize-the crown of eternal life; which God grant to us all, for the sake of Jesus Christ! AMEN.

SERMON

PREACHED AT STOUGHTON,

ON WEDNESDAY, THE 18TH OF JUNE, 1783,

AT THE

FUNERAL OF THE REV. MR. SAMUEL DUNBAR,

LATE PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH AND SOCIETY

IN THAT TOWN,

WHO DIED THE PRECEDING LORD'S DAY, IN THE 79TH YEAR OF HIS AGE,

AND THE 56TH OF HIS MINISTRY.

Rev.

BY JASON HAVEN, A. M.

PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN DEDHAM.

"And Samuel died, and all the Israelites lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah."— 1 Sam. xxv. 1.

"For me to live, is Christ; and to die, is gain."-Phil. i. 21.

BOSTON:

PRINTED BY N. WILLIS.

TO ELIJAH DUNBAR, Esq., son of the late Rev. Samuel Dunbar— and to the CHURCH and SOCIETY, lately under his pastoral care, the following Discourse, preached and published at their desire, is humbly dedicated. Its being prepared upon very short notice, and when the Author was in a very low state of health, he hopes will engage the candid reader to excuse the many imperfections of it. That this bereaved flock may be enabled to imitate those Christian virtues, which brightened and adorned the character of their deceased pastor -that they may recollect, and religiously improve, many of those pious instructions which he gave them, in the course of his ministry—that the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls may preserve them from being scattered, in their destitute condition, and lead them into proper, and successful measures to obtain another able, and faithful minister of the New Testament, is the desire and prayer of their

Sincere Friend and Servant,

THE AUTHOR.

SERMON.

NUMBERS Xxiii. 10.

"Let me die the death of the righteous; and let my last end be like his."

It is observable that many persons who are no cordial friends to religion, yet have a conviction on their minds of the excellency and advantage of it, and often wish to share in its important blessings. This seems to have been the case with Balaam, the speaker in our text. His character in general was bad; yet, to answer wise purposes, God, for a season, endowed him with the spirit of prophecy: He, as well as "Saul, was among the prophets." He loved the wages of unrighteousness; and in order to obtain them, was willing to curse God's people Israel; but by a superior influence on his mind and tongue, God turned his curse into a blessing: He showed him that Israel were a people singularly dear to him, and on that account happy above any other nation. He seems, by the light communicated to him, to have viewed their happiness as not confined to the present life, but extending to death, and beyond it. This led him to utter the wish in our text, expressive of a desire to share in their felicity, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his."

This passage hath been alleged as a proof that a future state. was believed in ancient times, though not so clearly expressed in the prophetical writings, as other things are. Bishop Patrick suggests, that the expression let my last end be like his, might be a wish that his posterity, or those that come after him, might be like the descendants from Israel; as the word translated last end, often signifies posterity, and is so rendered in Psalm cix. 13, Dan.

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