safely at Anchor and is careful for nothing O Sirs 'T is not so where the Love of the World and the Lusts of the Flesh rule there 's the Hell of vile affections spiritual filthiness ungodly counsel and courses There are the storms and tempests the restless foaming waves of carnal desires and worldly cares and fears and fretful discontents 'T is a miserable life that the worldling lives The wicked are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt Isa 57.20 And 't is our sin and folly that we are so like them The Love of Christ would help all this Yea do you not profess to love him and would you not be offended with him that should question it But what is Profession without proof If you love him you will obey him and none of his Commandments will be grievous to you Love is bountiful nothing will be too much or too dear for him The Love that is genuine is generous If you love him you will love all of him his Image his Company his Ordinances his Ministers his Ways But I must refer you to others for the Marks of the Sincerity of your Love to him 3. Are you his Sheep Should you not then love one another The Sheep is a sociable creature extreamly fond of their fellows O let not Christ's Sheep be Wolves and Tygers to one another A new Commandment I give you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another Joh. 13.34 Be ye followers of God as dear Children and walk in love as Christ hath loved us and hath given himself for us Ephes 5.1 2. See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently 1 Pet. 1.22 We know that we have passed from death into life because we love the Brethren He that loveth not his Brother abideth in death 1 Joh. 3.14 There hath been enough spoken and written on this Subject One of the commonest Themes of a most contentious Age. But alas words are wind and the wind hath but blown the Coals And Love is no Salamander it cannot live in the Fire yea though it be it self a fire it is from above of another nature and original whose flame will not unite nor conspire with those heterogeneous smothers which are from beneath How partial and private-spirited is the Charity of most of the hottest Zealots in every Party that cannot overcome the prejudices of their Ignorance Interest or Education but with pettish Jonah think they do well to be angry O that men knew better what spirit they are of The Flock of Christ are not all of one complexion nor of one Drove nor of one manner of Discipline in Circumstantials Those that have many Sheep have some fat and some lean some that are kept more strictly in their fenced Fields others that feed and range at greater liberty on the course and cold and short Downs and Commons yet have they all but one common Nature one Name one Mark and one Master So it is with the Flock of Christ in this their imperfect state There are some that are not so clean nor so sound as others yet they are Sheep and his Sheep and must as such be loved and pitied and not hated or scorned or disowned by us I have sometimes wondered at the reason why Dissentions on Religious accounts are always wont to be most fierce and implacable It cannot be because Man in this his lapsed estate is so Religious a Creature no 't is the Enemy that hath the most deep and mischievous Design in it 't is Pride and Envy and Superstition that is the Fomes of the Mine to which the Devil lays his Train under colour of Religion to blow up Religion and all that depends upon it in the World The Enemy fears not much what hurt Religion can do his interest in the world if he can but blow up the charity of those that profess it For what doth Faith signify without love by which it works 4. Are you his Sheep should you not then be very tender of your own Lambs There is hardly any kind of Creature but is fond of their young and if in any case they will be fierce 't is in their defence Even the Sea Monsters draw out the breasts they give suck to their young ones Lam. 4.3 O let not those that are called Christians be like the Ostriches in the Wilderness and forget that their poor Children have souls as well as bodies to be cared for Those that are evil know how to give good gifts to their Children They know how to feed them when they are hungry how to cloath them when they are naked how to physick them when they are sick how to instruct them in their worldly business and how to bestow them for their worldly advantage And herein there are few so unnatural but that they are diligent enough according to their ability and understanding and if this be all you do for yours what do ye more than others You rejoice perhaps in that they are born and you can call them yours but what can you hope for from them what comfort can you promise your selves in them if they be not new born If you provide only for their bodies their baser and mortal part what do you for them more than for your Hogs or Cattel which you are careful to feed and make fat for the day of slaughter Can you without terror think of their being damn'd Should you not do your utmost then to prevent it Do you not know that they are by Nature the Children of Wrath And that you were the Instruments of bringing them into this condition Are you not bound in Justice then with all your Care and Diligence to endeavour their Deliverance How can you believe this and not be concerned for them 'T is true we your Pastors are bound by the command of Christ to feed them but are not you equally bound both by the Bonds of Grace and Nature to begin and to assist with us in that work Time forbids me tho' my bowels urge me to enlarge here O let not Reformation dye at half way with this Generation but let what we have striven and pray'd and suffered and so long waited for be by Gods blessing on your faithful diligence and utmost endeavours conveyed with advantage to the next Tho God can of Stones raise up Children unto Abraham yet you may not expect that he shall work Miracles for those that live in the neglect of known duty 5. Are you his Sheep and committed by him who is both our LORD and Master and yours to us to feed and to rule for him Should you not then hearken to us and own the authority wherewith we are entrusted for your good Remember we must give our accounts shortly and so must you Whether ever I shall meet you again in this Place God knows but am sure that we shall one day meet again in a far greater assembly
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Pastors Charge AND THE Peoples Duty A SERMON for the most part Preached at the Assembly of Ministers AT EXON June 7. 1693. By Samuel Stoddon Ezek. 34.2 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 LONDON Printed for Jonath Robinson in St. Paul's Church-yard and are to be sold by Robert Osborne Bookseller in Exon. 1694. TO My Reverend and Dearly Beloved Brethren the United Ministers of Christ in the County of Devon Grace and Peace in and from our our LORD Jesus Christ Reverend Brethren IN compliance with your Affectionate Importunity and Obedience to your Acknowledged Authority I now humbly offer you what few others in the World but your selves could have wrested from me I confess it hath always been accounted an Ill Omen when the Victim comes unwillingly to the Altar But Conscience can avouch this for me That I have not come unwillingly to any Work wherein I have had a prospect of serving the glorious Ends of my Ministry 'T was your Vnanimous Vote that laid the Injunction of this Pulpit-work upon me to which though conscious of my own Vnfitness I readily enough yielded But when after my utmost Endeavours to prevent it you so irresistibly desired its Publication I could not but be troubled Yet not from any sullen Aversion to the Press as the Over-modest Humour of some is that are eminently better qualified to serve the Churches of Christ that way but from the unpreparedness of the Discourse for Publick View and the little Time or Strength that I have to fit it better It being for the most part Sermo ad Clerum and willing to speak a little as I could to what my Text so naturally directed me to I took the liberty to offer you the bare Skeliton without those Exegetical or Inculcative Enlargements which in a ruder Auditory might have been more necessary Wherefore now not without your leave I presume to present it both to You and to the World in a second Edition with a few and but a few Additions and necessary Variations whether for the better or the worse I cannot tell I did once hope to have buried it in the faithful Ears and Hearts of my then present Auditors and never have concerned my Pen any further about it But seeing it is your pleasure to send it further abroad you have made your selves Sponsors with me for all the Infirmities and Faults of it and have given me the Confidence now to Claim the concurrence of your Prayers That God will pardon the many Defects and prosper the good Design of it to his own Glory and the Spiritual Good of all those into whose hands it shall come And which is the fervent Desire of Your unworthy Brother and Fellow-Servant in the Gospel of Christ S. S. Sidbury August 15. 1693. THE Pastor's Charge AND The Peoples Duty John 21.15 16 17. Feed my Lambs Feed my Sheep Feed my Sheep CAP. I. The Text opened MY Reverend and Dear Brethren Unto us these words are spoken unto whom they were first and immediately directed by whom on what occasion and with what Argument they are enforced I need not tell you The bare Reading these three Verses at length will make all this plain and obvious to the meanest Understanding So when they had dined Jesus saith to Simon Peter Simon Son of Jonas lovest thoume more than these He saith unto him yea LORD thou knowest I that love thee He saith unto him Feed my Lambs He saith to him again the second time Simon Son of Jonas lovest thou me He saith unto him yea LORD thou knowest that I love thee He saith unto him Feed my Sheep He saith unto him the third time Simon Son of Jonas lovest thou me Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time lovest thou me And he said unto him LORD thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Jesus saith unto him Feed my Sheep You see 't was our LORD Jesus Christ the great Shepherd of the Sheep and whose Own they are that spake these words with his own mouth and left this thrice inculcated Charge with his Disciple Peter unto whom in the name of all the rest he was wont to direct his speeches not as Princeps but as * This notion will need a little explication in a more proper place Primus Apostolorum and with whom all the other not only of his then present Brethren but of all their future Successors in the same Office were included And this after his Resurrection from the Grave wherein he had paid the full Price of our Redemption and having laid down his Life for his Sheep had victoriously triumphed over his and their last Enemy Death and was now about to leave the World and go to the Father And knowing that he must leave his poor Flock whom he had purchased at so dear a Rate in the midst of the Wolves and wild Beasts of this Wilderness he thus charges his Servants concerning them unto whom he committed the Care and Over-sight of them Feed my Lambs Feed my Sheep And lest this should be too little he strengthens his Charge with the most obliging Argument that could possibly be urg'd Lovest thou me And this three times repeated which argues an extraordinary Earnestness and particular Emphasis that he would put upon it There are some that think this was three times repeated in personal reflection on Peter for his thrice denying him and perhaps there may be something in that But what was said to Peter was said to all the Rest both Them and Vs and his thrice repeating it was but to let us know how dear his little Flock was to him what Jealousie he had for them lest they should be neglected and what an Account he will require of us concerning them in the Day of our Accounts And here if I may not be thought too curiously to criticize upon the Text I would observe these two things in it The Order Of the Charge The Matter Of the Charge 1. The Order We see the Lambs are first mentioned then the Sheep Though these Names are sometimes in Scripture promiscuously used yet in propriety of speech there is a difference though not of Kind yet of Age at least and the Terms are not convertible Though all Lambs are Sheep all Sheep are not properly called Lambs And where we find both words used as in the Text it plainly intimates a distribution of the Flock into these two constituting parts of it By the Lambs here I understand only what the plain use of the Metaphor directs to viz. the Younger sort Younger either in respect of Years or in respect of Grace And why are these first mentioned Some use may be made of this though not that use which Bellarmine foolishly and falsly suggests But they may be first nam'd in our LORD's Charge to us 1. Because they are the weaker part of the Flock which doth by so much the more recommend them to our tenderest Care and Inspection They
are worst able to defend or provide for themselves they are weak in Judgment and weak in Experience and weak things are soon lost Therefore especial provision must be made for them 2. They are first in the Charge because they are first in the Order of Nature They are Lambs before they are Sheep and herein they seem to claim a precedency Therefore first Feed my Lambs 3. They are Spes Gregis The Hope of the Flock Though the weaker yet commonly the sounder part though the more Ignorant yet the more Teachable O Sirs if we lose them while they are Lambs 't will be hard perhaps too late to cure or recover them when they are grown more wild or more rotten The greatest hope of the success of our work lies here But where common Experience says so much I need say the less 4. They are Fundamentum Gregis By whom the Stock is maintained and a Succession preserved in the Earth The Seminary and common Fund of the Church To lose the Lambs is the ready way to lose all 5. They are the most Innocent part of the Flock There is a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an innate Principle of Dearness and Affection in every ingenuous Breast for such as these Can a Woman forget her sucking Child She will sooner forget all the rest than her Little one He shall feed his Flock like a Shepherd he shall gather the Lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young Isa 40.11 This was spoken of Him by whom the words of my Text were spoken No wonder then that he takes the first care for these Yet though the Lambs are first we find them but once mentioned in the Text but the Sheep twice Is it because the Sheep are more in number or more in value or doth it not seem rather to tell us That though the Lambs call for our first Care the Sheep are they that cost us double Labour while they are young and tender they are more ductile and teachable their Minds are a Tabula rasa not prepossest with Opinion or Prejudice their Affections green and complying and not actually preingag'd their Consciences untoucht in their natural Virginity I do not say in their Original Purity But when they are grown up and have imbib'd a few Religious Notions and are grown fond of them or have proselyted themselves to a Party how hard is it convince them or to rectifie their Errours in Judgment When they have tasted the sensual sweets of sin or intangled their hearts in the Cares of the World or espoused their Christian Profession to a Carnal Interest or under a Form of Godliness are come to settle in their Lees O how hard and next to impossible is it then to move them when stray'd among the wild Beasts to reclaim them when rotten to recover them Here 's double Labour with these Or else they are twice mentioned because they are capable of Pastoral Inspection in one point beyond what the Lambs are Of which I shall take a little notice in the next Thus much for the Order of the Charge 2. We are next to consider the Matter of it Wherein I shall not use the old Logical Terms of dividing but briefly take notice of the Charge it self and the Argument that is here used to enforce it 1. The Gharge is Feed my Lambs and my Sheep My Lambs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Sheep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I would not querere nodum in Scirpo seek for Subtilties where the Text neither intends nor needs any I know the words are often synonymously used yet if we look into their Etymology we shall find some difference and which to me seems to be designed here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies only to feed so as to make fat saginare but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not only to seed but to rule and govern to exercise the Office not only the Care but the Power of a Shepherd over his Flock So then here 's the Reason of what I just now hinted at The Lambs are but once mentioned and the Charge concerning them is only to Feed them these being not capable of Pastoral Discipline and Government But with the Sheep there 's the double labour both of Feeding and Ruling I shall not now trouble you with the Popish Questions that have been controverted on this Text as being alien to the design and proper work of this Day Only let me say again That what was here spoken to Peter was spoken to every one of the other Apostles wherein both They and We. that have succeeded them in their ordinary Work and Office of the Ministry are personally and equally concerned And though the Lambs and the Sheep make up the whole Church of Christ upon Earth it cannot be understood that the Church Oeâ—umenical was here committed to the Charge of every or of any one individual Pastor such a Work being loaded with Moral Impossibility But the Charge being given personally and particularly it must be understood of the Church Congregational that is that Part or Congregation of the Church whereunto every one is particularly and according to Gospel Order called and set as Pastor or Over seer Thus you have the Charge it self 2. Here 's the Argument wherewith our Saviour enforces it which is threefold 1. The Relations he hath to them They are My Lambs and My Sheep Mine whom you call your LORD and your Master yea your Redeemer and your Saviour Therefore feed them for my sake 2. The Propriety he hath in them They are Mine and not Yours the work of my hands the Lot of my Inheritance the Objects of my Care and Delight the Price of my Blood and the Fruit of the Travel of my Soul for whose sakes it is that I have thus humbled my self Therefore take heed how you neglect the least of them 3. The other part of the Argument is concomitant to the Text Lovest thou me q. d. If thou lovest me as thou professest to do shew thy Love to Me in thy Care of Mine Let my poor Lambs tast the Fruits of my Love in thee Let my Sheep be assur'd that thou lovest Me by thy Love to Them It is like a careful and prudent Husband 's passionate recommending the Care and Rule of his dear Children and Family when about to leave them by Death or a long Journey to his beloved Wife If ever you had any Love for me if these Children be mine as I believe them to be see that you carry your self in all respects as becomes a discreet and loving Parent towards them Take my Estate fill up my room and discharge the Offices of my Relation to them and let them want nothing for my sake This is that which is wont to be used as the last and most overcoming Argument amongst dearest Friends If you love me do so or so a kind of adjuring them by all the Bonds of Love and Friendship
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that labour among you and admonish you So Heb. 13.7 Those that Rule are the same with those that Preach the Word and ver 17. They are said to Watch for Souls which as it may imply other work so it must import Preaching the Word in which sense the word is ordinarily used in Scripture And here the Rulers and the Watch-men are the same Many other Texts there are that freely offer to avouch this Truth but these are enough to prove what I aim at That the work of a Minister of Christ is both to Teach and to Govern the People committed to his charge And he that is not fit to Govern is not worthy to Teach them But to obviate any scandalous Reflexions that Ignorance or Envy may make on this Position and Claim of our Governing Power in the House of God which is his Church We heartily declare our Abhorrence of all those Popith Tenets and Pretensions which are any way derogatory to the just Power and Authority of the Civil Government under which we live and unto which we profess our chearful and constant Obedience both as Men and as Christians Our Spiritual Government of Gods Spiritual Kingdom in our respective Charges being no more prejudicial to that of Temporal States and Kingdoms than is the Despotical which is the Natural Right of every Family Yea so far from prejudicial that it is accumulative both of their Honour and Security as the Experience both of the Primitive and of the best Reformed Churches have unquestionably proved and which might in many particular instances were it necessay be demonstrated From what hath been now thus briefly said I conclude this Question That Feed my Lambs and my Sheep implies these two things Teach them and Rule them wherein the whole works of the Ministerial Office is included But to tell you how they must be taught and how they ought to be ruled will need much more time than is here allotted me or is now convenient for me to take Yet this being the Main of my Errand to you something must be spoken to it as time and strength will serve in the Applicatory part to which I now proceed CAP. III. The Doctrine improved by way of Instruction THIS Doctrine would be useful more ways than I shall be able now to apply it Yet give me leave to suggest some of the more necessary things under these three general Heads Instruction Exhortation Encouragement 1. By way of Instruction and that in these eight particulars 1. In the Right and Propriety that Christ hath in his Church They are his own Sheep Joh. 10.3.4 No Shepherd in the World ever had or can have that absolute undefeasible supream independent and natural Propriety in his Flock as Christ hath in his They are His both as God and as Redeemer His by right of Creation Donation Purchase Regeneration and their own voluntary Choice and Self-dedication His Portion His Inheritance His peculiar Treasure Nothing is nearer nothing dearer to him than they His Mark and his Name is upon them his Spirit his Nature his Image his Glory shines in them The Scripture is full of his Claims to them and by which they are distinguish'd and separate from all the rest of the World Joh. 15.19 And this is the ground of that Caution 1 Pet. 5.2 3. Feed the Flock of God which is among you Neither as being Lords over God's Heritage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ruling but not Domineering Governing but not Tyrannizing more Regio imperantes as Deputies and Rulers in trust not as Lords and Kings Non Regnum sed Cura Presbyteris commissa est beccause they are not Yours but God's Heritage his Clergy whether Ministers or People for the word in the use as well as derivation of it reaches both Church-Tyranny is an Encroachment upon Christ's peculiar Right To Rule with a Lordly Grandeur with Rigour or Arbitrariness to Monopolize the Power which ought to be more equally distributed is very injurious not only to the Flock but to him who is the LORD of it and whose Servants and Stewards we profess our selves to be And which is a guilt that the proudest He upon Earth will not have the hardiness to own before his Judge another day 2. In the tender Affection and Care he hath for them Nothing is more apt to endear a thing to us than Propriety That which is our own we love though it be not as it should be nor as we wish yet because 't is our own And those that do otherwise are justly reckoned among the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without natural Affection and worse than Infidels But should I begin to tell you what dearness of Affection the LORD Jsus Christ hath for his poor little Flock where should I end Eternity will be little enough with admiration and praise to recount the glorious Soul-ravishing Instances of this Love He loved them so as to leave the Eternal Throne of his Glory and the sweet Repose he had from Everlasting in the Bosom of the Father for them So as to humble and abase himself to the vile Raggs of our Humane Nature to the Miseries and Necessities of an indigent life to the proud Scorns and blasphemous Indignities of a wicked and horridly ungrateful World to the foul Temptations and Buffettings of Satan to the imputation of Sin the only thing so abhorrent to his pure and sinless Nature to the Bondage Obedience and Curse of the Law to the Wrath of God which he never in the least for himself deserved and which to any one else would have been utterly unsupportable to the most ignâ—â—â—inious torturous and accursed Death of the Cross and to the power of Death his own Servant and common Executioner for a time And all this his Love to them overcame and sweetned to him Yea and having loved them he loves them still and will love them to the end yea without end And therefore delights to speak of them always with some Intimations of their dearness to him as his Friends his Brethren his Children his Lambs his Spouse his Members c. for all which I had no need to quote you the Scriptures And as is his Love to them so is his Care of and Provision for them When he saw it expedient for them to depart from them as to his bodily presence and to leave them here in a Militant state exposed to the Rage of his and their Enemies both Temporal and Infernal to be hated and tempted and persecuted to the death for his sake O how did his Soul pity them with what compassion did he embrace them and seal his unchangeable Love to them what a stream of endearing Affection and Care doth there run thro' his parting Discourses with them Joh. 14.15 and 16. How sweetly doth he counsel and comfort them there and is so concerned for them that he seems to take no care for himself though he knew that dreadful Hour was now come wherein that Wrath must be
our Brains Tho' those that are under their first Convictions and are young in the Faith may improperly be called Lambs yet these are they who in Scripture Language are said to be with Young and are plainly distinguished from the Lambs Isa 40.11 'T is strange that any but the Devil should quarrel at this part of our Work 2. As part of our Charge let us take all proper and rational Methods that lye within our reach and their capacity to teach and instruct them in all the necessary points of the Christian Religion both Doctrinal and Practical This was the Command of God by Moses and the constant practice of the Conscientious in that Church And herein the first and purest the best settled and most thriving Churches of the Gentiles have been exemplarily diligent and eminently successful nor was there ever any Age more plentifully furnished with such helps and plain Catechistical Systems of sound words to this purpose than is the Age we live in which if diligently and duely improv'd may yet save us a Remnant and be as a Nail given us in his Holy Place a happy presage of a work of Reformation if not in this yet in the next Generation But here these five words of caution may be necessary 1. That their memories be so imploy'd as not to be over burden'd a due regard being had to that insuperable difference which Nature hath made in the distribution of this Faculty Tho' sloth or dullness ought not to excuse yet the burden should not be made too heavy We must drive as Jacob did Gen. 33.13 as the weak and tender of the Flock can bear Prudence must be applied here 2. That they do not rest in the bare exercise of Memory as Children are exceeding apt to do but that our best endeavours to be used to conveigh the Notions of Divine Truths as they are capable into their Understandings which will be no little help and advantage to a weak Memory And herein should our skill and condescension appear in plainness and familiarity of expression yet with that seriousness sweetness and gravity as doth become our Persons and Office And in order hereto an account should be taken of them by such other easie questions as are not formally learnt but plainly included in and may readily be answered by what is so learnt for the trial and exercise of their Intellectuals Of which kind also we have made ready to our hands the useful labours of divers who have travell'd in this Province on that excellent Compendium of Theology compos'd by the Reverend Assembly of Divines at WEST MINSTER and which hath deservedly obtain'd the general acceptance of all the Orthodox in the Protestant Churches 3. Because we know that the Devil will be Catechizing the Heart in these Young Ones while we are Cathechizing the Ear and the common Understanding and will be digging his Countermines against us in the hidden parts of the Soul and doubling his Fortifications on the Ground of a depraved Nature we should endeavour with all our Holy Art to make them sensible of their particular and real concern in these things of God and of their Souls so that their Consciences may be awaken'd and rouz'd and the happy Foundations of a serious as well as early Religion be laid in them And perhaps we may find greater success herein than we are aware of or are apt to hope for Conscience is as natural to them as Reason and should be nourish'd up with it and as we find in all other things the younger the more tender and easie to be wrought upon Tho' Fear be said by the Atheistical Philosopher to be that which first made that it in their sense fancied and imagined God in the World yet were it not for this Connatural Principle of Conscience Fear would not make that clear and abiding Impression on the Rational Nature as it doth Unless we manage our work with them so as is proper to effect the grand Design of their Conversion we do nothing to any good purpose but lose our properest and most acceptable time of doing their Souls that good for which they may bless God for us in the upper World 4. We should rest with them in the Doctrinal or Theoretical part but especially insist on the Practicals of Religion and with such plain and suitable applications as are more obvious to their weak Understandings that so they may come to perceive the end and use of their Instruction and Knowledge and a Harmony may be form'd in them betimes abovo between their Principles and their Practices Which is the most hopeful way to obviate that common Cavil of the World against Early Piety grown into a Proverb A young Saint and an old Hypocrite 5. Our Carriage towards them and Care for them should in all respects be such as may engage their Affections which are naturally more early and readily exerted than acts of Judgment and Understanding that they may as soon as possible come to taste the sweetness of the ways of God By such an advantage as this you know it is that our Enemy the Devil is wont to be before-hand with us by inflaming the sensual Appetite and engaging the Affections and corrupting the Will with the carnal pleasures of Sin and the Lusts of the Flesh before the Judgment is enlightned or the Conscience awaken'd to discern and to resist the Temptations wherewith he is too hard for them Herein then it is good policy to prevent him When we have gotten the Hearts of our Little Ones with what pleasure and zeal and innocent emulation will they go on in their work which will make it much the easier both to themselves and to us I could enlargehere but that I know to whom I am speaking Verbum satis sapientibus 2. The other part of our Charge are the Sheep and here as I have said is double work These must both be Fed and Rul'd 1. They must be Fed. 'T is my comfort that I am now speaking to such as God hath made both able and apt so to do and who I hope have no need of my Directions in it or Spurs to it Wherefore I shall only hint at some few more general heads of the things you much better understand than my self 1. They must be fed with wholesome Food The sincere Milk of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sound pure and inadulterated Doctrine Divine and Scripture Truths the Bread of Life of Heavens preparing and not the visions of our own Hearts Unwholesome Food breeds Diseases and sometimes ends in Death The Shepherd were as good starve his Flock as poison it O how dangerous then is blindness or giddiness or self-will in a Spiritual Guide What need have we with unprejudiced minds to study the Holy Scriptures to take heed of rashness or singularity in the â—otions that we espouse To Watch and Pray for that Spirit of Truth which is promised us of God to guide us into all Truth that we do