Christ we preach warning every Man and teaching every Man in all wisdom i. e. by a suitable applying of Things to them according to their various Circumstances and Conditions that we may present every Man perfect in Christ Jesus Whereunto I also labour c. And all this pains must be enlivened by an Holy Example for if a Minister does not live over the Instructions he gives to others and appear a burning and shining Light in Life and Conversation as well as in Doctrine his ill Manners will do more hurt than all his Words can ever do good Examples have the greatest influence upon Men Verba docent Exempla trahunt Therefore is that charge so frequently repeated That they should in all things be Ensamples to the Flock I will add but a word or two for the encouragement and quickening of a Pastor to his Duty and then pass on to what remains What I intend at present I shall sum up under two Heads First Consider whom you serve and by whose Authority you are to act in your place You are a Minister of Christ not a Creature of humane appointment It is by the Holy Ghost that you are made an Overseer therefore take heed to your self and to the Flock of God A like Argument or Motive is included in that of Col. 4. 17. Say to Archippus Take heed to the Ministry that thou hast received in the Lord that thou fulfil it To receive a Ministry in the Lord is to be imployed in a Service for Christ and by his Order and Authority Now from hence these things and others like to them may be inferred 1. That there is a real dignity and worth in the Office which you are to administer He that desires the Office of a Bishop saith our Apostle desires a good Work It is an Office that a Man must labour in but his Labour is in a good Work viz. that which is honourable as well as useful as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies and you know Difficilia quae pulchra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 honourable Imployments are not without their burden Men may despise this Function but let not that discourage you Christ hath honoured you and let the sense of Duty and Gratitude to him bear you above all Discouragements to a faithful discharge of your Trust and that with holy boldness and fortitude of Mind 2. If you have reeived your Office from Christ you must be responsible to him for the discharge of it Stewards must one day give an account to their Lord and thrice happy he to whom Christ shall say in the day of Account Well done thou good and faithful Servant enter thou into the Joy of thy Lord. There is nothing tends more to engage us to all diligence and faithfulness in our Places than a deep and fixed thoughtfulness of that solemn Audit which we must be brought to at the Kingdom and Appearing of the great Shepherd 3. Those that Christ imploys in his Work may expect his gracious presence and assistance in all the difficulties that do attend it For this we have his word passed Lo I am with you to the end of Mat. 28 ult the VVorld tho' you may be persecuted you shall never be forsaken of me and tho' your Burthen may sometimes press you with a great weight yet my strength shall be made perfect in your weakness and my Grace shall always be sufficient for you It is the Grace and Assistance of Christ that a Minister must depend upon and expect the success of his Labours from and having ground for such an expectation let him not faint from the apprehension of any hardship or opposition that may lie in his way for all Power in Heaven and Earth is in his Hand by whom he is imployed 4. Seeing he is ingaged in Christ's Service the Reward of Faithfulness therein is sure Christ will not fail to shew himself a bountiful Lord and Master to those that serve him None ever were or shall be losers by doing his Work This is the incouragement that Peter lays before the Elders of the Church and exhorts them to lift up their Hearts to 1 Pet. 5. 4. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear ye shall receive a Crown of Glory that fadeth not away And this will be a sufficient compensation of all your sorrow and travel here Look how much your labour hath been more than others God will cloath you with the brighter Rays of Glory your Converts shall then be your Crown and your Joy when they that have turned many to Righteousness shall shine as the Stars for ever and ever Secondly Consider That it is the Care and Charge of Souls that is committed to you not the Temporal Concerns of this Life but the Affairs of Eternal Life are the Business of your Stewardship Now one Soul is of more worth than all the World because immortal and made for an Eternal State The Influence that the Ministry of the Word hath into the future state of Men made Paul say as in an extasie VVho is sufficient for these Things They are the Souls of Men that God thought it worth the giving of his own Son to redeem and Christ thought not much to shed his precious Blood for the Church is a Society of Men which God hath purchased to himself by his own Blood and now committed to your Care and appointed you to watch for their Souls therefore take heed to your selves and to your Flock for if any of them perish in an evil way thro' your neglect of Duty towards them They die in their sins but God will require their Blood at your Hand We come now to the last thing that lies before us viz. The Duty of the People towards their Pastors Able and faithful Pastors are a great Blessing and special Fruit of Christ's Love to his Church and he as well expects and requires her improvement of so great a Talent and the chearful performance of her Duty towards her Ministers a◠he doth strictly charge them to acquit themselves with all fidelity and diligence in their places I am under a necessity of bringing this part of my Discourse into a narrow compass and therefore shall recommend to you but these four things 1st You owe to your Pastor great Love Respect and Honour for his Work-sake And God requires that you make a due paiment thereof This our Apostle often presseth with great earnestness for instance see 1 Thess 5. 12 13. And we beseech you Brethren to know that is to acknowledg with due respect them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their Work-sake And again Let the Elders that Rule well be counted worthy of double Honour especially those that labour in the Word and Doctrine 1 Tim. 5. 17. If you have a true Friend in the World it is he that watcheth for your Souls tells you the Truth and travels
enforce it but what are obvious to every one's Eye in the reading of them And he deserves not the Name of a Minister Pastor or Bishop that labours not herein It will not I suppose be expected that I should here lay down Rules for Preaching or enter into a Discourse about the Method of Theological Studies in order thereunto Only give me leave at present to recommend three things to those that are under so strict and solemn a Charge to preach the Gospel 1. Let your Care be to deal with the Souls and Consciences of Men as knowing that it is the Salvation of Souls which you are to labour after a Care of Souls that is committed to you and an account of them that you must make to God It is not your Business to gratify the itching Ears or wanton Fancies of Men Jerome complains of some in his Time That Id habent curae non quomodo Scripturarum medullas ebibant sed quomodo aures Populi declamatorum flosculis mulceant but to speak to their Hearts and by manifestation of the Truth to recommend your selves to every Man's Conscience in the sight of God 2 Cor. 4. 2. Lay out your pains in a solid explaining of the Principles of Religion and a judicious accommodation of them to practice that sincere Piety and the power of Godliness may be promoted by your Ministry Press the particular Duties of Men in every Relation and Capacity upon them warn them of the sleights of Satan rebuke their Errors and Disorders that go astray comfort the Afflicted and broken in Heart And in these things let no Zeal Diligence Boldness Industry or Labour be wanting 2. That this may be accomplished Be sure that you speak as the Oracles of God and deliver that 1 Pet. 4. 11. Doctrine to the People which is drawn from the pure Fountain of God's Word It is no less than the Evidence of Divine Authority that will work upon the Soul and command the Conscience of a Man whether it be by way of Comfort Exhortation or Reproof it is the stamp of Heaven upon the Things delivered by you that renders them powerful Let it therefore be your principal care in Preaching clearly to open and pertinently to apply the Scriptures that your Hearers may bear away this Conviction from your Sermons That you have the Mind of Christ It is not enough that the things you speak be true but you must manifest them to be so by strong and convincing Proofs Make Conscience of giving what in you lies the very sence of the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures that you speak to and weaken not excellent Truths by wringing them out of such Texts as intend another thing The word of God is Sacred and must be handled with all religious respect and reverence Divine Things will admit of no trifling 3. Remember that the Duty of your Place is Not to preach your selves but Christ Jesus the 2 Cor. 4. 5. Lord His Glory must be the Mark aimed at by all your Labours and his Grace the principal Subject of all your Discourses It is not a Philosophick Harangue that will save the Souls of Men but the preaching of Christ Crucified His 1 Cor. 1. 23. Gospel is the Power of God unto Salvation to them Rom. 1. 16. that believe and his Holy Name is the Ointment that perfumes all Religious Exercises Therefore I will not only say Let there be Aliquid Christi something of Christ in every Sermon but let Christ be the beginning middle and end of your Discourses for in him are hid all the Treasures of Colos 2. 3. Wisdom and Knowledg in him is the Fountain and Head-spring of all true Comfort and Holiness So much for the first Thing 2dly Unto the publick Work and Charge of a Bishop or Elder belongs also the Administration of the Sacraments or Ordinances of positive Institution in the Church as Baptism and the Lord's Supper This appertains to that Dispensation of the Mysteries of God that is committed to him and to that feeding of the Sheep of Christ which is required of him And then 3dly It is his Duty to take care of the due exercise of Discipline in the Church and the right ordering of all things pertaining to the Government thereof He is the Overseer of God's House Heb. 13. 17. and is to rule therein not in a despotical or lordly Way but by the Testament of Christ as becomes a Minister and as one set over the Lord's Heritage who are a voluntary People and to be governed not with force and rigor but with their own consent All the Brethren have an Interest in the management of Church-Affairs in the admission and ejection of Members yet this denies not a peculiar Concernment of the Elder in these things and a neglect of their due Administration will especially be charged upon him if guilty thereof And in these things great Prudence Tenderness Diligence and Impartiality is required of him It is a Matter of great importance that the Gates of the Lord's House the goings out and comings in thereof be well look'd to If Members be not received with due caution our Number may be increased but not our Joy and if any be precipitantly and without just grounds ejected the scandal and inconvenience will be as great And in all these things an Elder must endeavour so to demean himself that in the whole course of his Ministry there may be kept up a very lively representation of the Love Care Wisdom Compassion Faithfulness and Patience of the Lord Jesus Christ whom he serves I shall say no more of those Duties that are incumbent on a Pastor in the publick Exercise of his Ministry But in the next place Secondly There are also Duties of great importance to the Souls of Men which an Elder is bound diligently to attend the discharge of in a more private and particular way He is obliged to a constant watchfulness for and over his People and ought diligently to enquire and search into the state of his Flock That those who are in danger to err for want of counsel may be directed the unruly warned and rebuked feeble and dejected Souls strengthened comforted and encouraged and those that are beset with Difficulties and Temptations succoured and relieved Unto an unwearied diligence in these things Paul excites the Elders of the Church at Ephesus by his own Example You know saith he how I kept Act. 20. 18 c. back nothing that was profitable for you but have shewed you and have taught you publickly and from House to House The like he doth to those of Thessalonioa 1 Thess 2. 10 11 12. Ye are Witnesses and God also how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved our selves among you that believe As you know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a Father doth his Children That you would walk worthy of God c. And again Col. 1. 28 29. Whom viz.
Minister than of other Men to provide for his Family and what lies in him to take care of his Wife and Children 1 Tim. 5. 8. that they may not be left exposed to a thousand Miseries and Temptations when he is gone I confess of all Men in the World a covetous raking Temper worst becomes a Minister but we greatly mistake if we think he must divest himself of the due Affection of an Husband towards his Wife or of a Father towards his Children or that those Fruits thereof which are justly esteemed commendable in others should be a fault in him 3. An Elder or Bishop is under a special Charge to use Hospitality and to set in himself a pattern of Charity and compassionate Bounty to poor Souls And if it be his Duty to be hospitable and charitable in an eminent degree then without Controversy the People are concerned to endeavour that he may be capable of giving proof of this Grace in him by the exercise of it as there is occasion These things being premised I shall shew you that you lie under the strongest Obligation imaginable to this Duty 1. By the Eternal Law of Nature 2. By the express Command and Appointment of Christ 3. On the account of the great and manifest Evil and Inconvenience that follows the neglect thereof First The Law and Light of Nature obligeth you to it as to the matter of Equity and Justice And from hence our Apostle takes his first Plea in 1 Cor. 9. 7 c. Who goeth a Warfare any time at his own Charges Who planteth a Vineyard and eateth not of the Fruit thereof Or who feedeth a Flock and eateth not of the Milk of the Flock The Ministry is a Warfare undertaken at the Command of Christ for the Service of your Souls and it is as reasonable that the Minister should receive a supply of outward things from you as it is that a faithful Souldier should receive his Pay from his Captain at the charge of the Common-wealth for whose good he â—mlitates Shall a Man feed a Flock as a Pastor does and be denied to eat of the Milk of that Flock which it is his work to keep and feed Or is it consistent with common Justice to deprive a Man of the Fruit of that Vineyard which is planted and manured by his own Labour Such is the case in respect of Maintenance between a Minister and the People It is not your Charity that I ask for him but Justice and Debt that I plead for He is imployed in your Service and of right should live upon your Charge Nay you have called him off from other Business and therefore his Maintenance is as due from you as is the Wages of your Servant tho' I fear some give more to the meanest Servant in their House than they are willing to do to their Minister Certainly if you chuse as you ought your Ministers are not of the lowest of the People but may be allowed to have a share of Parts common Prudence and Ability for Business with other Men and could manage Trades or fall into other Imployments and get Estates as well as you if they were not devoted to a better Service and must they needs be devoted to Necessities and Misery in the same hour that they enter upon the Ministry My Brethren this ought not to be Let your Ministers have as good treatment at least as the Law provided for the Ox that trode out the Corn who might not be muzled Neither was this written for the sake of Oxen for Doth God take care of Oxen Or was there no higher end of this Law than that the Bruit Creature should not be abused Certainly there was and for our sakes no doubt was this written 1 Cor. 9. 8 9 10 11. That he that ploweth should plow in hope and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope For If we have sown unto you Spiritual Things is it a great thing if we shall reap your Carnal Things Secondly The Lord hath not left us to argue this only from general Principles of Reason and common Equity but to put the Matter beyond dispute hath superadded his express Command Thus he provided for his Ministers in the Time of the Law which the Apostle urgeth in the next place 1 Cor. 9. 13. Do ye not know that they which minister about Holy Things live of the Things of the Temple And they which wait at the Altar are partakers with the Altar God did no sooner separate the Levites to the Service of his Sanctuary but he by Law provided for their Subsistence And tho' they were but one Tribe in twelve yet the Tenth of the Increase of the whole Land was given to them besides the First-Fruits and Offerings and divers other Advantages so that their Lot might equal yea exceed that of their Brethren This Law indeed is now abrogated and we pretend to no right of Tything your Estates but the moral Equity of it can never cease neither hath Christ left Gospel-Ministers to the wide World but hath made provision for them also so far as the interest of his Command will go with them that profess his Name for so it follows Vers 14. Even so hath the Lord ordained that they that preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel The Labourer is still worthy of his Hire and not the less worthy because he labours in the Gospel Tho' indeed if Men did fully come up to their Duty yet still the Charge of Gospel-Worship will appear very inconsiderable when compared with that of the Law for were that my Business I think I could demonstrate that the fifth part of their Estates was yearly to be spent in things relating to the Temple-Service And if we are sensible of the great Priviledg and Blessing of the Gospel on higher accounts than meerly the case of those Burthens we shall never think much to defray the moderate Charge of a Gospel-Ministry in such a manner as may give a Reputation to our Profession Thirdly That you may prevent the evil and inconvenience that follows the neglect of this Duty it concerns you chearfully to practise it I might have said Evils and Inconveniences as of many for many there are and those of easy observation to an unprejudiced Eye but it is the discouragement of Study which at present I chiefly aim at That Study must needs be discouraged I intend the study of Theology by the Peoples neglect to make a comfortable Provision for their Ministers is too evident to require a Proof who will apply himself to gather and lay up those Stores of solid Learning which are needful to a Minister when he can expect to purchase nothing to himself but Poverty and Distress thereby Or how shall a Minister be capable to furnish himself with the universal knowledg of Things relating to his Work that hath no Means of providing for his own Information or no Time free from Cares and worldly Business