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
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
â—5 to give them their Meat in due season when 't will be most useful for them and not when 't would be hurtful to them Luke 12. â—2 And as his Wisdom is shewn in the Seasonableness so also in the Quality and Quantity of the Meat which he gives them which ought also to be such as is due to them Three great Books which a Minister ought chiefly to study to make him wise and prudent are the Holy Word his own Heart and his own People 4. Such must be sincere and faithful they must be Loyal to their Trust and according to their due knowledge they must dispense what they are entrusted withal An unfaithful Steward may greatly wrong his Master and injure the Family either by an extravagant Wasting or a clandestine Embezelling of the Goods committed to him 't is therefore an especial Qualification in a Steward and especially in a Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Steward that he be true and trusty This is the Property our Ssaviour gives of his Servant and Steward Matth. 24.45 that he be faithful as well as wise Luke 12.42 have an honest Heart as well as an able Head to give his Houshold their Meat in due season And this the Apostle speaks of in the Verse immediately following the Text. Moreover 't is required in Stewards 1 Cor. 4. that a Man be found faithful as tho' 't were the only necessary Qualification of such an one And when he directs Timothy to the Properties of those that should be intrusted with the Mysteries of God he tells him 2 Tim. 2. The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also NOw this Faithfulness and Loyalty to God excludes all base and sinister ends of the Stewardship as Honours Riches Applause from Men Partiality Men pleasing sowing Pillows under Elbows dawbing with untemper'd Mortar 5. Such must be diligent and laborious Stewards must have their heads their eyes their hands their feet busied or they will never discharge their Office Ministers must redeem all the time they can from their Recreations of the Body from Sleep from Visits they must imploy and exhaust all their strength in this their Stewardship they must wear out their Lungs in Praying and Preaching and blunt their Brains in studying grudge no Pain nor Labor devoting their all to and imploying it in and laying it out about this their Function Matth. 24. So our Ssaviour saith that his Servant must be found so doing when he cometh that is he must be always busie and imployed very industrious and laborious and that without ceasing because our Lord's coming is always uncertain So St. Paul commands Timothy Tim. 4.2 I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom Preach the word instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine Day and night at all times he must labor when any Conveniency presented And he was a most excellent Practiser of his own Precepts for he tells the Corinthians 2 Cor. 1 15. That he would very gladly spend and be spent for them Exhaust his Spirits Blood and all for their Souls good And when he had at Miletus called the Bishops the Presbyters of Ephesus he tells them in that excellent Speech to them Acts 20 21 231. I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you but have shewed you and have taught you publickly and from house to house All day preaching and praying in publick assemblies and at night instructing private families And again watch and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears An excellent Example proposed for our Imitation 6. Such must be courageous and magnanimous Of an undaunted and fearless Spirit in the Discharge of their Office Stewards must be so or else every sawcy and unruly Fellow will daunt them and tread them down and so either make them cease to Discharge their Duty or else out of fear to act quite contrary thereto So must ministers because they will meet with Affronts Accusations Contradictions Evil Intreaties from some other of the Family besides Persecutions of all sorts from abroad if the Devil can raise them even all Persecutions of Tongue Hands Sword Prisons Gibbets and Flames and the more able wise faithful and laborious they are the greater Oppositions and more stout and daring Encounters they are likely to meet with even in the Church are Tares as well as Wheat Chaff as well as good Grain bad as well as good Fish Vessels of Wood and Earth and to Dishonour as well as Vessels of Gold and Silver and tho Honour and from these if forreign Persecutions come not they must expect and will experience very great Oppositions and Discouragements and therefore they must have a courageous Spirit and a Countenance like a Wall of Iron and a Gate of Brass or they will never be able to bear up against and wade thro' all these God therefore forbids his Prophets this carnal Fear of Men as Jer. 1.17 Gird up thy loins and arise and speak unto them all that I command thee Be not dismayed at their faces lest I confound thee before them So also Son of man be not afraid of them neither be afraid of their words Ezek. 2.6 tho' briars and thorns be with thee and thou dost dwell among scorpions be not afraid of their words nor be dismayed at their looks though they be a rebellious house 7. Such must be zealous for God's Glory and devoted to his Honour Stewards must be heartily affected with and swayed by their Master's Interest and must look upon their Lord's Reputation as their own grand Concern and this will engage them to be prudent faithful diligent c. in their Place So must Ministers be toward God toward his Name Kingdom and Glory So was St. Paul that glorious Steward that incomparable Example of all Stewards who did and suffered more for the Glory of his Lord and for the Good of his Houshold then any other Phil. 1.20 he tells us That 't was his earnest expectation and his hope that in nothing he should be ashamed but that with all boldness as always so then also Christ should be magnified in his body whether 't were by life or by death He would labor he would suffer he would live industriously and wear out himself he would dieshamefully and give up himself for the Magnification of the Lord Jesus And so in other places he professes Acts 20. â— Bonds and afflictions abide me neither count I my life dear unto myself so I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testifie the gospel of the grace of God So that he might testifie the Gospel and introduce Jews and Gentiles