Gospel of his Son Jesus Christ. And great Reason there is why a good Minister of Jesus Christ should study to approve himself unto God 1. Because it is God who entrusts and employs him in the Ministration of the Gospel And to him he must give an account of his Stewardship If the Office of the Ministry were merely an Humane Constitution and the Instructions Rules and Measures which Ministers were to be determined by in the Execution of their Office were all of Man's Appointment then would it be sufficient for them so to demean and carry themselves therein as to gain the Approbation of Men But if the Office Work and Rule be from Heaven and not of Men then it is their Concernment as well as their Duty to seek the Approbation of God The Apostle's Way of Reasoning in another like Instance will I think guide us to what we are to conclude in this Case 2 Tim. ii 4. No Man that warreth entangleth himself with the things of this Life that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a Souldier And may we not argue à Minori ad Majus He that is bound to the Lord Christ the Captain of our Salvation under his Sacramentum Ministeriale ought not to entangle himself in Matters of a foreign Nature especially when they are obstructive to his proper Work much more if inconsistent with it but he should bend all his Thoughts Cares and Endeavours to please him who hath chosen him to be a Minister When I say the Office is from God yet that leaves room enough for Men who have a delegated Power from Christ in the ordinary Way to try the Persons who are to be admitted to the Execution of that Office And having found them fit to ordain them with Fasting Prayer and Imposition of Hands and so solemnly to invest them therewith Yet still it must remain unshaken That Man doth not make the Ministry neither may Man by his proper Authority appoint the Minister his Rule nor apportionate his Work For that belongs to the Lord Christ only Eph. 4. 8 to ver 14. When he asscended up on high he led Captivity captive and gave Gifts unto Men And he gave some Apostles some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the Work of the Ministry for the edifying of the Body of Christ. 2. A good Minister of Jesus Christ should study to approve himself unto God because from him alone he is to receive his full and ultimate Reward Sad and miserable would be the Lot of a good Minister of Jesus Christ if the Favour of Men and earthly Preferments were all that he might look for after his greatest Sedulity and Fidelity The Apostle Paul had certainly more in his Eye for he professeth that it was something else which kept him from fainting and sinking under all the Burdens of his Services and Sufferings and that was That he looked not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen because the things which are seen are temporal but the things which are not seen are eternal And a great and precious Promise they have to encourage them in their Labours and to support them under their Burdens 1 Pet. 5. 2 3. Feed the Flock which is among you or in as much as in you lies and when the chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away This may suffice to have been said touching the second Property of a good Minister of Jesus Christ He is one who studies to approve himself unto God 3dly His third Property is That he is a Work-man that needeth not to be ashamed There are two Branches in this Part of his Character 1. If you look upon him absolutely so he is a Workman 2. If ye look also upon the Modification adjoined so he is a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed 1. A Workman he must be and that Work which he is called unto is no easy Employment but very laborious for the Word used in the Text is translated a Labourer Matth. 9. 37. The Labourers are few And Ver. 38. Pray ye therefore the Lord of the Harvest that he would send forth Labourers into his Harvest Neither is his Labour like to some kinds of Recreation in which Men do but play while they take a great deal of Pains But it is hard Labour even to Laffitude and Weariness to the wasting of their Strength and exhausting of their Spirits For so doth the Scripture set forth the Working and Labouring of the good Ministers of Jesus Christ 1 Thess. 5. 12. Know them that labour among you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 5. 17. especially they who labour in the Word and Doctrine This ye may find exemplified in two Instances The Former is of Christ when he was spent and tired out with his Journey Joh. 4. 6. Jesus therefore being wearied with his Journey sat thus on the VVell The Latter is of the Disciples who had toiled out themselves all night Luke 5. 5. Master we have toiled all night These places are produced to shew That a good Minister of Jesus Christ is a Work-man whose Employment requires very hard Labour so that he hath no time allowed him for Idleness or Remissness though some time be indulged to him for his Relaxation through his Master 's tender Compassion Mark 6. 31. And he said unto them Come your selves apart and rest a-while for there were many coming and going and they had no leisure so much as to eat However God may deal with such as stand all the day idle in the Market-place yet doubtless he will not endure any Loiterers in his Vine-yard in which even the Fig-tree which was barren would not be allowed to have a Standing much less might the Dresser of the Vine-yard expect to be tolerated if he brought forth no Fruit. Our Saviour told his Apostles that he had ordained them that they should bring forth Fruit and that Fruit was their converting of Souls to God as the Apostle explains it Rom. 1. 13. That I may have some Fruit among you also as among other Gentiles The Ministers of Christ may intercede for the Enlargement of the time of God's Patience toward an unfruitful People but then it is upon their Engagement to use double Diligence in cultivating of them Luke 13. 8. Lord let it alone this year also that I may dig about it and dung it Thus ye have one of the Apellations by which a good Minister of Jesus Christ is denominated that he is a Work-man But because I told you that my Design in this Discourse would be to give you some distinct Representation of such an one I think it necessary to add some other Titles by which the Spirit of God doth notify him to us that ye may see him in a clearer Light and form more perfect conceptions of him The good
Widow and his Children in any thing wherein ye may gratify them 6. Maintain Union and Concord among your selves Let nothing be done thrô Strife or Vain-glory but in Lowliness of Mind let each esteem other better than themselves Look not every Man on his own things but every Man also on the things of others Let this Mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus 7. My concluding Request to you all is Let your Conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ. Be Blameless and Harmless the Sons of God without Rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation among whom ye shine as Lights in the World I leave these my Requests with you And commend you to God and to the Word of his Grace which is able to build you up and to give you an Inheritance among them that are sanctified Books sold by John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultry A Sermon preached on the Thanksgiving-Day at Crosby-Square By Samuel Slater Minister of the Gospel 4 to A Sermon preached at the Funeral of Mr. Ronolds Minister of the Gospel 4 to Bp. Wilkins of Prayer and Preaching 8vo Addy's Short-hand 8vo Praxis Catholica Or The Country-man's universal Remedy being excellent Physical Receipts By Chistopher Pack Doctor of Physick 8vo A Good Minister OF JESUS CHRIST 2 Tim. II. 15. Study to shew thy self approved into God a Work-man that needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the Word of Truth WE are this Day to solemnize the Funeral of a good and faithful Servant of Jesus Christ who is now entred into the Joy of his Lord. Wise he was and skilful in turning many to Righteousness and now as we have good ground to believe he shineth as the Brightness of the Firmament He is now no more in the Land of the Living and many they are who will find him wanting One of the Pillars is removed out of the Temple of God upon Earth The Ministers of Christ in and about this City will quickly be sensible that there is one of the Watch-men taken away His desolate Family is full of Lamentation because the Covering thereof will no more overshadow it Some weep for the loss of their Spiritual Father who begat them to Christ through the Gospel Others miss their Nourisher who was wont to give them their portion of Meat in due season And as for my self I am deprived of a Brother greatly honoured and beloved by me whom I always found an helpful and concordant Fellow-Labourer in the Work of the Gospel On all hands there are those who recount their Loss but to him to die is gain for he is departed and gone to Christ which is best of all I need to say no more touching the special Occasion of this Meeting as being known to you all as ye declare by your coming hither in greater Numbers than usual But it is likely that some will be disappointed of their Expectation for I suppose that several came to hear an eminent Servant of God who is richly furnished with all Kinds of Ministerial Abilities whereas they now find that the Providence of God hath laid this Service upon one who is destitute of those Accomplishments nevertheless I shall endeavour through the Help of Christ to speak the Words of Truth and Soberness And that ye may know before-hand what Subject is provided for your Attention and so your Thoughts will be the better fixed I shall let you understand that my Design is to set before you the rough Draught or Representation of a good Minister of Jesus Christ as the Apostle stiles him 1 Tim. 4. 6. And I think my Choice will be for your Edification For while I describe such an one I shall but hold up to your View a Glass or Mirror wherein ye may behold the reflected Portraicture of our deceased Brother And when ye maturely consider his Idea ye cannot but find your Thoughts running into such Issues as these He was lately with us and did we then understand what a Jewel we possessed He is now taken away and are we duly apprehensive of our Loss It is a common Instance of our Infirmity and Inadvertency that we seldom prize Mercies according to their proper Worth Excellency and Usefulness until we have lost them and then it is usual to hear Men breathing out Job's Lamentation O that I were as in Months past Let us then become so wise as thankfully and faithfully to improve present Blessings and Advantages lest our Saviour's Minatory Prediction overtake us The days will come when ye shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man and shall not see it And now I shall without farther prefacing apply my self to handle the Words which I read to you They are directed to Timothy in a way of Admonition or Advice Study to shew thy self approved unto God But when ye thorowly ponder them ye may perceive that in them is contained the Delineation of a good Minister of Jesus Christ and that drawn by the skilful Hand of the Apostle Paul as it was held and guided by the Holy Ghost himself But in framing his Character he thought it not enough to shew himself alone or by himself For he placeth near him the Image or Picture of a wordy proud and wrangling Pretender Thus in one Frame ye often behold the Picture of a beautiful Person with a deformed Negro or ugly Satyr standing by him For Contraries illustrate one another In the Canticles the Church of Christ is represented as the fairest among VVoman but it is placed as a Lilly among Thorns The like Course doth the Apostle take here He sets forth a good Minister of Jesus Christ in very lively Colours and withal he depaints a vain-glorious contentious Sophister Neither can we well read the Text but our Eye will glance upon the Words which immediately go before it and those that follow after it In which he discovers a bad Minister that when we compare him with a good one and are made sensible of the Contrariety that is between them we may cleave to the one and relinquish the other The Deformities and malignant Qualities of a bad Minister are laid open in the 14th and 16th Verses the Sum whereof is this That a bad Minister is one who strives about VVords to no profit but to the subverting of the Hearers and he is one whose Art and Occupation lies in prophane and vain Bablings which tend to the increase of more Ungodliness We must then allow a little of our time to search out his Marks and Properties though very cursorily And if ye well observe him he will quickly discover his Spirit and Temper for he is a Man of Heat ready to strive but not apt to teach He hath a Torrent of Words but they are empty and insignificant He is all Tempest and Whirlwind to rend and tear in pieces but he is a Stranger to the Things that make for Peace But the Servant of the Lord
Ministers then of Jesus Christ have two sorts of Titles conferred upon them Some that set forth their Dignity Others that bind them to their Duty In reciting the Former I shall be very brief yet may I not silently pass them over lest I should be injurious both to them and you 1. Their Titles that do set forth their Dignity Of these I shall mention four only 1. They have the glorious Name of Angels set upon them Rev. 1. 20. The seven Stars are the Angels of the seven Churches Angels we know are the highest Rank and most noble Order among all the Creatures And they have the Denomination of Angels because they are the Messengers of the great God And such are all good Ministers of Jesus Christ. Ambassadors 2 Cor. 5. 20. Now then we are Ambassadors for Christ. Messengers Hag. 1. 13. Then said Haggai the Lord's Messenger in the Lord's Message to the People This Title was not appropriated to him as a Prophet immediately called and inspired but it is communicated to all those who are appointed and authorized by God to deliver his Messages to his People Mal. 2. 7. The Priest's Lips should preserve Knowledg and they should seek the Law at his Mouth for he is the Messenger of the Lord of Hosts 2. They are called Elders Acts 14. 23. VVhen they had ordained the Elders in every Church Tit. 1. 5. Ordain Elders in every City The name of Elders was honourable among both Jews and Gentiles The Jews dignified their Rulers both Civil and Ecclesiastical with the Title of Elders And so did the Greeks use the same to signalize such as were of eminency for their VVorth or Office For thus doth one of them inform us We call saith he those Persons Elders whom we esteem the best or most excellent and the Ancients There are few who have not heard of the Roman Senate and Senators And Antiquaries tell us that the Saxon word Aldermen hath the Signification of Ancients or Elder-men 3. They are denominated Guides such as have the Conduct of others and go before them in the Way of Religion Heb. 13. 7. Remember them which have the Rule or are the Guides over you who have spoken unto you the VVord of God And ver 17. Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls as they that must give account The Ministers of Christ have a Power to lead though not to compel 4. They are dignified with the Name of Presidents such as are over others in the Lord 1 Tim. 5. 17. The Elders that rule or preside well account worthy of double Honour I shall not farther enlarge upon those Titles that set forth their Dignity yet somewhat may be inferred that is obvious to every understanding Observer That Men ought to honour those whom God delights to honour Or let me lay this before you in the Words of the Apostle 1 Thess. 5. 12 13. And we beseech you Brethren know them that labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you To know them not only that ye may distinguish them from other Persons or to salute them when ye meet them or to have some friendly Conversation with them but to yield them such Observance as may testify that Honour and Obedience which ye owe to him that sends them and the Messages which they bring you in his Name and clothed with his Authority And all this must be done not slightly and out of Complement but in Reality and Sincerity And then for the Degree of your esteem of them it must not be after a low and vulgar rate but raised to a double height in Comparison very highly Let no Man think that I mentioned these magnificent Titles conferred on the Ministers of Christ out of Ostentation or Ambition for they have learn'd to bear Contempt when cast only upon their Persons or their outward State in the World but yet they are obliged to magnify their Office when Men do despise or reproach it And for this the Apostle's Example is their Warrant Rom. 11. 13. Inasmuch as I am the Apostle of the Gentiles I magnify mine Office They know very well that they are but earthen Vessels yet they carry an inestimable Treasure Pearls in Oyster-shells 2 Cor. 4. 7. That all the Glory may be ultimately carried up to God For they preach not themselves but Christ Jesus to be the Lord and themselves your Servants for Jesus sake This may suffice to have been spoken of the Titles that set forth their Dignity I shall be a little more copious in those that bind them to their Duty And I shall single out such as are of like import with that of a Work-man mentioned in the Text. As 1. They are stiled Bishops Acts 20. 28. Take heed to your selves and to the Flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you Over-seers If the Greek word had been rendred here as it is generally in other places it might have been translated Bishops The Apostle tells us 1 Tim. 3. 1. He that desireth the Office of a Bishop desireth a good VVork The Apostle calls it a VVork not an Honour saith Grotius or as another glosseth A Work not a Dignity or a more delicate and softer kind of Life Let such as glory in the Name do the Work of a Bishop and all good Men will pay them due respect Sure we are that the Charge that is given them is very strict 1 Pet. 5. 1 2. The Elders which are among you I exhort who also am an Elder Feed the Flock of God which is among you taking the Oversight thereof or doing the Work of a Bishop toward them And what the Work of the Primitive Bishop was the Learned Dr. Hamond hath informed us It was saith he the Work of the Bishop to be the Mouth of the People to offer up their Prayers Supplications Intercessions and Thanksgivings to Almighty God To receive to Baptism those that upon due trial were found meet for it To administer the Lord's Supper which in the first times of Christianity was done very frequently To visit the Sick and to pray for them To stop the Mouths of Gain-sayers to admonish disorderly Walkers To cast out the Obstinate and Incorrigible To receive Penitents into the Church after sufficient trial made of their Repentance To take care of the Poor Orphans Widows and Strangers And in short to attend to all the Affairs of the Church of God He that will conscienciously give up himself to all these Services will need no other Argument to convince him of the Labouriousness of that Office 2. The Ministers of Christ have the Name of Pastors set upon them as very directive to shew them their Work and Employment Ephes. 4. 11. Some Pastors and Teachers 1 Pet. 5. 2. Feed the Flock that is among you i. e. Do all things that belong to the
Office of a Pastor The Shepherd's Work in the literal Sense is very busy and toilsom Jacob who had been long exercised in it gives this account of it Gen. 31. 40. Thus was I in the day the Drought consumed me and the Frost by night and my Sleep departed from me Neither can we suppose that a Shepherd in the Metaphorical Sense should exonerate himself of all Care and indulge himself in his Ease It was never known that a Title to an Office should discharge a Man from his proper Work and Employment We may infer what God requires and expects from those whom he constitutes Shepherds whether in a Political or in an Ecclesiastical Sense by the sharp Reproofs and severe Menaces which he useth against the Negligent Ezek. 34. 2 3 4. Son of Man prophesy against the Shepherds of Israel prophesy and say unto them Thus saith the Lord against the Shepherds VVo to the Shepherds of Israel that feed themselves Should not the Shepherds feed the Flock The Diseased have ye not strengthened neither have ye healed that which was sick neither have ye bound up that which was broken neither have ye brought again that which was driven away neither have ye sought that which was lost but with Force and with Crueley have ye ruled them I should desire no more of any Man that thinks a Pastor's Life to be a Life of Ease and Divertisement than to make experiment though it be but among a few and those well-disposed People and he shall quickly find how much his Work will daily grow upon his hands To satisfy the Doubting and Scrupulous To set in joint the Bones which have been dislocated or broken by the Falls of such as have been overtaken or surprized by Sin To bear with the Infirmities Slowness of Capacity and Untowardness of such as he labours to instruct To apply sutable Remedies to their various Spiritual Distempers To look after and bring back such as have gone astray either through their own Levity or the Craftiness of Seducers With Patience Pity and Compassion to bear with those that oppose themselves And besides all this meekly to treat the Petulant and Exorbitant and to cicure or tame such as have altogether broken the Yoke and burst the Bonds 3. They are called Servants or Ministers Sometimes with respect to the Subject or Matter of their Ministration and so they are stiled Ministers of the Word Luk. 1. 2. Even as they delivered them to us which from the beginning were Eye-witnesses and Ministers of the Word Sometimes to set forth their Relation to their Lord and Master to whom or in whose Service they do minister So they are the Ministers of Christ 1 Cor. 4. 1. Let a Man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ The Word made use of in the original Greek translated Minister doth primarily signify a Rower one that doth tug and sweat at the Oar The Poet could say That they who handle the Oar stand in need of two things Of God to help them with a good Wind and of their own Labour The Appellation then of a Rower being in a Metaphorical Sense applied to a Servant or Minister of Christ may admonish him to continue his Care and Industry without any intermission for ordinarily the Wind and Tide are against him And when it is so if the Rower sit still but a little his Vessel may be carried far backward and he may lose more in one Hour than he can recover in many If a Minister be remiss when false Doctrines or Immoralities in Practice like a Tempest bear down all before them such Disorders will quickly follow as will not soon or easily be rectified or reformed Let him therefore animate himself with the Apostle's Spirit and Resolution Gal. 2. 5. To whom we gave place by Subjection no not for an hour that the Truth of the Gospel might continue with you 4. They are frequently stiled Ministers or Servants but by a Word differing very much in the Original from the former which also doth engage them to much Diligence and hard Labour and that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Word is used sometimes in the strict Acceptation and then it is rendred a Deacon as 1 Tim. 3. 8. Likewise also must the Deacons be grave The occasion of erecting that Order in the Church ye may find recorded in Acts 6. and their proper Work was To take care of and to manage the Stock of the Church and this in ver 2. is set forth by their serving of Tables but the Use of the Word in the larger Acceptation is far more frequent to denote A Minister of the New-Testament 2 Cor. 3. 6. The Minister of God 2 Cor. 6. 4. A Minister of Jesus Christ 1 Tim. 4. 6. That which I intend by adding this Appellation is as a farther Demonstration That the Calling of a good Minister requires much Industry and Diligence in those who will discharge their Duty with Fidelity for the Verb from which the Word which we render Minister is derived doth signify to make haste or to work Thus ye have had an Account of this Property of a good Minister of Jesus Christ That he is a Workman To which I have added four Titles more of the same import because this seems most conspicuous and eminent in that Character which the Text sets upon him And there remains a little more to be spoken touching that Adjunct which is added concerning him For the Apostle did not satisfy himself with calling him a Work-man but in a way of Illustration or Amplification he subjoins That he is a Work-man that need not be ashamed The Text hath it in one Word unashamed and this leads Interpreters into several ways of explaining the Sense and Meaning of it For some understand it actively A good Minister must be a well-resolved Person that no Shame Disgrace or Reproaches of Men should daunt or discourage him from professing or preaching the Gospel The Apostle Paul was well fortified against those Impressions which Shame might make upon weaker Minds for he saith Rom. 1. 16. I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ and often mentioneth his Parrhesia His speaking openly with Liberty and Confidence as Acts 9. 29. And he spake boldly in the Name of the Lord Jesus Acts 13. 46. Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold and said Neither could all the Calumnies raised against him nor Injuries done him make him ashamed 2 Tim. 1. 12. For which Cause I also suffer these things nevertheless I am not ashamed Impudence is indeed most hateful in an evil Matter and draws down the Wrath of God upon brazen-faced Sinners Jer. 6. 15. Were they ashamed when they had committed Abomination nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush therefore they shall fall among them that fall He hath an hard Province who is diepute with Ignorance when it is patronized by Impudence For how shall he instruct
or convince those who are not ashamed of Impertinencies Non-sense or most gross Absurdities But when the Truths of God are to be vindicated The Faith which was at once delivered to the Saints to be contended for and Holiness to be propugned the good Minister of Jesus Christ should be bold as a Lion and pray earnestly to God for that Grace which was promised to the Prophet Ezekiel Chap. 3. ver 8 9. Behold I have made thy Face strong against their Faces and thy Forehead against their Foreheads as an Adamant harder than a Flint have I made thy Forehead Fear them not neither be dismaid at their Looks though they be a rebellious House This may suffice for the active Sense and this way doth the Syriac Version look Shew thy self a Work-man without Confusion and many of the Greek Commentators are reported to concur therein But there is also a passive Sense which may well be admitted and that our own Translators do prefer and as I think doth best sute with the Contexture of the Apostle's Discourse That a good Minister should so carry it in all his Ministerial Work that he need not be ashamed The Apostle doth apparently insist upon that Antithesis which is between a contentious Sophister who strives about Words that are unprofitable and vain and a Work-man that needeth not be ashamed When the Design and Management of a fallacious fiery Disputation is detected the Work-man hath abundant cause to be ashamed for his Folly will be made manifest to all Men. But when the good Minister's Work is most narrowly searched and sifted he may hold up his Face without spot yea his Infirmities being graciously covered and pardoned he may have confidence and not be ashamed before Christ at his Coming This may suffice for the third Property of a good Minister of Jesus Christ He is a Work-man that needeth not to be ashamed 4thly The Character of a good Minister of Jesus Christ is concluded with this Property That he is one who rightly divides the Word of Truth For the clearing of this two Things are to be attended unto which may be dispatched with convenient Brevity 1. What is the Subject or Matter about which his principal Study and Labour is to be employed and that is The Word of Truth 2. What is incumbent upon him with respect to the Word of Truth and that is That he rightly divide it 1. It is the Word of Truth in and about which the Thoughts and Studies of a good Minister of Jesus Christ are to be exercised Not in doubtful Disputations nor in the bare Opinions and Dictates of Men though of great Reputation and Authority Much less in framing cunningly devised Fables or golden Legends which may raise in the Ignorant and Credulous Admiration Superstition and Rapture but in the Considerate and Prudent Disdain and Indignation The Apostle hath informed us How the great Apostacy from the Christian Faith was to be managed and carried on 1 Tim. 4. 1 2. By giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils speaking Lies in Hypocrisy but the good Minister must firmly and entirely adhere to the Word of Truth The great Repository whereof is the Holy Scripture which bears upon it that glorious Inscription The Scripture of Truth Dan. 10. 21. and the VVord of Truth the Gospel of Salvation Eph. 1. 13. and again The VVord of the Truth of the Gospel From hence must the good Minister derive confirm and improve all his Doctrine For the whole Scripture is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness That the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished to all good VVorks They then offer an intolerable Affront to the Divine Majesty who speak wickedly for God or talk deceitfully for him Job 13. 7. 2. What is the proper Work of a good Minister of Christ wherein he is to be occupied with reference to this Word of Truth and that is rightly to divide it which cannot be understood in a literal but in a metaphorical Sense The Conjectures of Men about the explicating of the Metaphor have been various Some think it spoken in way of Allusion to the Priest's cutting abroad and dividing the Sacrifices into their several Parts in which they were very curious and exact Others conceive that the Apostle hath respect to those Sections into which the Book of the Law was divided by the Jews in order to their reading of it in their Synagogues Others think the Metaphor to be taken from Mothers or Nurses who cut the Meat which they give their Children into small pieces that they may the better receive and digest it But not to insist upon the Critical Part I think the Sense and Meaning is well expressed by the vulgar Latin Rightly handling the VVord of Truth and by the Syriac Rightly preaching But if we expect something instructive from the Metaphor made use of I suppose it may afford us some light if compare these Passages of Scripture together 1. The Apostle doth stile the Ministers of Christ Stewards of the Mysteries of God 1 Cor. 4. 1. 2. Our Saviour assigns this as one Property of a good and faithful Steward who is set over the Houshold that he may give to every one their portion of Meat in due season Luk. 12. 42. distributing to every one their proper Dimensum or Allotment as Exod 16. 16. Every Man according to his Eating Herein then lies much of the good Minister's Prudence Care and Tenderness so to divide the Word of Truth that every one may have their proper Portion He must provide Milk for Babes and strong Meat for them that are of full Age Heb. 5. 13 14. accommodating his Teaching to the Necessities and Capacities of the Hearers In this their Lord and Master Christ went before them and hath left them an Example For he spake the Word as the People were able to hear i. e. to understand and profit by it Mar. 4. 33. It is a singular Grace or Mercy that God bestows on his Ministers The Tongue of the Learned that they should speak a Word in season A Word in season to the Weary that they may be refreshed A Word in season to the Sorrowful that they may be comforted A Word to the Doubting that they may be setled and established A Word to the Secure and Impenitent that they may be awakened and convinced and so to others as their Case and Condition may require for then is the Word of Truth rightly divided And thus I have endeavoured to represent before you the Delineation of a good Minister of Jesus Christ according to those four Properties which are suggested in and from the Text. And now if ye have attended unto and duly considered that Character which hath been given of a good Minister I presume that many of you will be apprehensive that it was not without reason that I intimated in the