learned Philosophers in the World and from the very natural Man who cannot discern them as they are in themselves and according to their own spiritual Nature Division 1. We have here the Function and Office of Ministers Service and Stewardship or what they are Servants and Stewards 2. The subject Matter of their Stewardship or the Things whereof they are Stewards The Mysteries of God 3. The Duty of the People They must account them so carry it towards them as such Their Office shall be the Doctrine and the People's Duty part of the Use Doct. 1. That Ministers are Christ's Stewards Tit. 1.7 A Bishop a Minister must be blameless as the Steward of God 1 Cor. 9.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. A dispensation a Stewardship the same word as in the Text of the gospel is committed unto me Col. 1.25 So 2. According to the Dispensation or Stewardship which is given to me for you the Scripture expresly tells us that Ministers are Stewards and that their Function and Office is a Stewardship Which Stewardship is no ordinary and common Stewardship but the most excellent and glorious the most necessary and useful and the most profitable and advantageous of all other Which will appear if we consider 1. Whose Stewards they are the Lord Christ's and God's so expresly said to be in the Text. And St. Paul tells us that his Stewardship was committed to him Cor. 9.7 viz. by the Lord Jesus And they are usually called in Scripture the Servants of Christ Embassadors of God and of Christ c. now according to the Excellency and Degree of the Lord and Master so is the Excellency and Worth of the Stewardship Thus a Steward of the King's Houshold is a far more honourable Person and his Office of greater Dignity then any others wherefore the Ministerial Stewardship must be incomparable more Noble in this sence then any others 2. Over whom or toward whom they are Stewards God's House his Church the whole Houshold authoritatively over the whole Church I mean so in a safe and well expounded sence that is being once duely ordain'd and authoriz'd Stewards they may exercise it toward or over any Society of Men either without or within the Pale of the Church without in any place of the World among Heathens or Mahometans where Providence may have cast them they have Authority to gather a Church from among them and if they have Ability and Opportunity they must endeavour it and being gather'd they ought to exert the Office of God's Steward over them Within the Pale of the Church among what Society of Christians soever God may bring or place them or by what Communion of Christians soever they may be called they have there the Authority of Stewards and if due Conveniency present they ought to exert it also For when a Minister for the greater Glory of God and Profit of the Church may be called from one Society of Christians to another that Call collates no new Authority on him but gives him an Occasion and Opportunity to exert it over themselves Where-ever a Minister comes among Christians all other things duely concurring he hath Authority to exert his Ministerial Stewardship over them so 't is said 1. A Servant whom his Lord hath made Ruler over his Houshold Matth. 24.45 Indefinitely over his Houshold that is universally not over some one particular part hereof or some sorts of Servants therein but over all And so 2. The Steward whom his Lord hath made Ruler over his Houshold Luke 12.42 without Exception or Limitation So 3. St. Paul having spoken of Christ's Body which is the Church immediately adds Col. 1.24 25. Whereof I am made a Minister according to the dispensation of God Of the Church of the Body not of a particular part of the Church nor a singular Member of the Body but of the whole in this sence not that they can ever simultaneously exert it over the Church which is the Anti-christian Usurpation of Rome who pretends to be Lord of all the Stewards of God's House as well as of the inferiour Family Neither can another ever successively exert it among all the Congregations of Christians seeing the Universal CHURCH is so far disperst throughout the Face of the whole Earth So that by their Calling they have such an Universal Stewardship though they are in their Imployment limited to particular Parts of the Family and Houshold of God Now according to the Greatness and Excellency of the Family over which Stewards are placed is the Worth and Dignity of the Stewardship wherefore seeing Ministers are Stewards over the whole Church of God so vastly numerous and the Family being the most glorious and excellent for Qualifications and Priviledges this Stewardship must in Worth and Excellency surposs others 3. If we consider the Duration thereof this Stewardship is for ever during Life being once taken into this Service and Office of God and the Church they are always in it and are bound while they have Abilities Opportunities and any of the Family to officiate over to dispense to them those Things whereof they are Stewards For tho' Defects in Nature and Corporal Inabilities and Persecutions and Civil Impediments may hinder the Imployments of the Ministry they cannot deprive of the Office and Function but these being removed they must be sure to act as Stewards Every consecrated Minister has nailed his Ear to the Posts of the Sanctuary for a perpetual Service 1 Cor. 9.16 so saith St. Paul Though I preach the gospel I have nothing to glory of for necessity is laid upon me Tea wo is unto me if I preach not the gospel having the stewardship of the gospel once committed to him A moral Necessity was layen upon him to preach it ever after and if he should wilfully refuse it woe would be unto him as a wilful Neglecter of the Duties of his Calling As consecrated Priests and Levites under the Law never became profane Persons but were still accounted Holy to the Lord and fed and maintained by the holy Things so neither can they who under the Gospel are devoted to and by God taken into this Ministry and Stewardship ever alienate themselves from it and if they do they incur the Guilt of horrid Sacriledge Indeed there may be some extraordinary Case wherein it may be lawful for a Man to lay aside his Ministerial Function and assume another As suppose two Brothers the one a King the other a Bishop as has been usual because of the great Riches and Authority of the Clergy the King dies without Issue and unless the Bishop that next Heir to the Crown succeeds there is a Moral Necessity of the Overthrow of Church and State of the Introduction of Popery and Slavery and the Law of the Land makes the Regal and Episcopal Dignities to be utterly inconsistent in one Person I doubt not but 't would be the Duty of the Bishop to degrade himself and to lay
aside his Crosier Miter and Lawn-sleeves and to invest the Royal Robes and take to himself the Crown the Sword and the Scepter But such an extraordinary Case falls not out in many Ages Wherefore seeing this Stewardship is for Term of Life it is a more excellent one then those that are but for a few Months and Years and at the Bene placitum of an inconstant Lord and Master 4. If we consider the Subject Matter of their Stewardship or the Things they are intrusted with to keep and dispense In the Text they are called the Mysteries of God and these are 1. The Word of God whereof they are the Preservers and Dispensers the Preachers the Expounders and the Appliers So St. Paul in that forementioned place tells us 2 Cor. 9.16 17. that a Dispensation was committed to him which he calls the Preaching of the Gospel and so again he tells us Col. 1.25 That the Dispensation which was given him or his Stewardship was to fulfil the Word of God not to fulfil it in itself for 't is compleat and perfect in itself and so it s own end and design even the Glory of God in our Salvation for whoever truly believes the Doctrines and conscienciously obeys the Commands of our Bible shall certainly be blessed of God on Earth and saved by him in Heaven But the meaning is to fulfil it as a Minister of Christ toward them in a due full plain manner revealing preaching or writing it to them and pressing it upon them and their Commission runs thus Matth. 28.19 20. Go and disciple all nations teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you And so Christ said unto them Mark 16.15 Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature The Dispensation of the whole Word is committed to them Of the Promises to declare their Riches their Certainty and their Condition and suitably to apply them Of the Threats to shew their Dreadfulness their Infallibility and their Terms and suitably to apply them Of the Doctrines to shew their Truth their Harmony their Natures their Tendency to God's Glory and Man's Salvation to expound them and prove and confute all Errors by them Of the Commands to teach their Spirituality their Latitude their Perfection and to press them upon the People for their Obedience and Observance 2. The Ordinances and Sacred Rites of Christ's Institutions I mean the Sacraments which are only two Baptism and the LORD's Supper both which are intrusted to Ministers and as Stewards they only have the Administration of them So is Baptism Go and disciple all nations Matth. 28.19 baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Those same Persons that are authorized to Teach are authorized to Baptize and none other and therefore we say that if the Form and Matter of Baptism be used by any prophane Person that is not a Minister that is Null and 't is no Baptism So is the LORD's Supper and therefore St. Paul saith 1 Cor. 11.23 I have received of the Lord that which I also delivered unto you that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he brake it and said Take eat this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me After the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped saying This cup is the new testament in my blood this do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me Where he tells us that he deliver'd to them the Eucharist after the same manner that Christ instituted as he had received Authority from him And whoever has a Right as a Steward of God's Mysteries to Administer one Sacrament has as great a Right and Authority to Administer both 3. The Discipline and Censures of the Church are committed to their Dispensation Suspension Excommunication Re-admission Matth. 16.19 So I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Which is not singularly and personally appropriated to Peter as the Pope would have it and so to himself his pretended Successors but was committed to all the Apostles and in them to all Ministers their Successors in the Ministry and Stewardship of the Gospel John 10.23 Whosoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whosoever sins ye retain they are retained From which Passages we may gather that Ministers only have Authority to exclude from and reduce unto discriminating Ordinancers though in particular and well-govern'd Churches the People ought to be consulted with and the Reasonableness of the Minister's Proceedings herein toward any particular Member ought to be evinced and this is according to Scripture and so their Approbation required which seems to be taught us in that Passage of our Saviour's in which our Saviour enjoyns upon the stuborn Impenitency of a Delinquent Matth. 1 15 18. upon a secret Address of the wronged Party to him and upon his taking one or two more with him that then he should tell it to the Church and if he refused to hear the Church and for his Obstinacy be sentenced by the Church that then he should count him as a Heathen and a Publican Which Sentence of the Church seems to be implyed in as antecedent the words following Verily I say unto you Whatsoever ye the Church shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven And that there should be this Harmony between the Ministers and the People and that their Consent be had in the Censures seems to be very expedient yea necessary to the Ends of Censures of Suspension or Excommunication which are the Humbling and Spiritual Profit of the Delinquent the Warning and the Security of the Congregation the Reputation of Religion and the Glory of God by all Now except there be a Concurrence between Pastor and People these will not be produced for if a Minister should deny the Ordinances to a Person and excommunicate him and yet the People own him as a Brother he 'll little regard his Minister's Exclusion of him and be apt to be more proud and headstrong against him the People will be no way secured but be in greater Danger to be infected and by such Divisions and Animosities Religion will be disgraced God dishonour'd and the Devil's Interest exalted The like will be if the People should separate from a Member and the Minister own him the same if not worse Consequences will issue therefrom wherefore St. Paul expresly enjoyns the Concurrence of the whole Church in Excommunication Having greatly blamed and sharply reproved them for owning the Incestuous Person as a Member of their Society he commands them in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ
to believe in Christ and to worship God he would willingly undergo all Persecutions home to a cruel and disgraceful Death And so again I am ready not to be bound only Acts 21.13 but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus For his Praise and Glory so also ought we to be zealous toward it if ever we hope to fulfil our Ministry 8. Such ought to be loving and affected toward the Church and People of God to st a due Value upon their Souls and to have an ardent good will toward them Stewards should have Love toward the Family rejoyce in its welfare delight in its Prosperity c. without which they will either carelesly neglect or heedlesly and heartlestly perform their Duty toward them So must Ministers be toward their People and herein also follow that glorious Pattern St. Paul who says concerning the Jews I say the truth in Christ Rom. 9.1 3. I lie not my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart For I could wish myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh And again Brethren Rom. 10.1 my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved The same ardent Love and earning Bowels had he toward the Gentile Churches so he tells the Corinthians Behold 1 Cor. 12.14 15. the third time I am ready to come to you and I will not be burdensom to you for I seek not yours but you for children ought not to lay up for the parents but the parents for the children And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you though the more abundantly I love you the less I be loved And so also he declares his Love to the Thessalonians 1 Thess 2. â— 8 11. But we were gentle among you even as a nurse cherisheth her children So being affectionately desirous of you we were willing to have imparted to you not the gospel of God only but also your own souls because ye were dear unto us Ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father doth his children So should our hearts be affected toward our People and so we should follow that Precept Feed the flock of God and take the oversight thereof not by constraint 1 Pet. 5.2 but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind 9. Such must be humble and patient Stewards must be of a composed and even Spirit and not be in a passion and storm for every little Miscarriage else they 'll be unfit to manage the Affairs of a great Houshold So Ministers must be of a setled and undisturbed Spirit not soon angry overlooking passing by and dis-regarding of and not troubled at the ill Humors and unhandsom and provoking Carriage which they must expect to meet with from some or other of the Family yea from them from whom they least expect it and least deserve it This is expresly commanded them a Bishop must be patient 1 Tim. 3.3 4. and so the Servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle to all Men apt to teach Tim. 2. â— 26. patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth and that they may recover themselves out of the Snare of the Devil's who are taken captive at his will They must imitate Moses and be zealous in God's Cause but meek and as unconcerned in their own c. 10. Lastly Such must be blameless and free from all Vice commendable praise worthy and shining in all Graces and Vertues in all Gravity and venerable Deportment Stewards must be so or they will never keep up their Authority in the Family if they be vain or vicious every one will despise them So Ministers must excel in all excellent and eminent Manners and Practice and give all good Examples to their People so they are enjoyn'd Not as Lords over God's heritage Pet. 5.3 Tim. 4. but as examples to the flock So is Timothy charged To be an example of the believers in word in comversation in charity in spirit in faith in purity And St. Paul tells us that he was so Brethren Phil. 3 1â— 20. be ye followers together of me and marke them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample For our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. Which they must do to confirm their Doctrine they must preach out of the Pulpit by their Lives as well as in the Pulpit by their Sermons this they must do to maintain their Authority over and their Respect from the Houshold of God So St. Paul directs Timothy to do having commanded him 1 Tim. 4 12. Let no man despise thy youth He knew that some Persons would be apt to disdain to be taught to be reproved by a young Lad a beardless Boy as we use to say so to contemn him which he warns him against and directs how he may avoid it even by being an Ensample to the Believers in Word in Conversation c. by shining in all Graces Duties and Vertues toward God and Man And this was that which procured to John the Baptist so great Reverence and Respect from Herod Luke 6. He feared John knowing that he was a just man and an holy and observed him and when he heard him he did many things and heard him gladly So that his eminent Life and shining Conversation won him from such a cruel Tyrant awe to his Person attendance to his Doctrine and obedience in many things to his Injunctions tho' in the case of his Herodias rather than be parted from her he would part John's Head from his Body The Title that the Holy Ghost gives Ministers do all engage them hereunto as they are called Embassadors Fathers Lights Stars Angels How grave then how shining how exemplary how heavenly should they be The chief Graces and Duries which they ought to have and perform and the great Vices and Sins which they ought to subdue and avoid we have specified in 1 Tim. 3.1 7. Tit. 1.5 6 8. to which I refer you In a word let us but well study and follow the three Epistles of Paul to Timothy and Titus and we shall need no other Cannons or Directory for he tells Timothy that 't was for this end that he wrote those Epistles to him If I tarry long 1 Tim. 15. that thou maist know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God which is the church of the living God the pillar and ground of truth Now because I know that thro' the Corruptions of our own Nature and our base inward Discouragements and the manifold and great Oppositions and Contradictions that we do or may meet with Motives are useful to excite us to all these