denounce Gods Judgments against them We would be glad at every Sermon to say nothing but Peace to this Audience but our God saith There is no Peace to the wicked We would sing with the Angels Peace on Earth and good will towards men but how shall we sing the Lords Song in a strange Land Ps 137.4 We have Preached Glory Honour and Peace and Salvation and an incorruptible Crown and the choycest delights that heart could wish and were not regarded What remains then but to Preach Indignation and Wrath tribulation and angnish upon every Soul of man that doth evil Rom. 2.8,9 Fire from Heaven Plague Sword and Famine Captivity Emptied from vessel to vessel hurried from place to place Mists and Clouds and Darkness and Torments for days and nights and eternal generations of Years We have Piped unto you and ye have not Danced Matt. 11.7 we have sung With thee O Lord is mercy that thou mayest be feared Psal 130.4 But now we must change our note With thee is Vengeance that thou mayest be feared If the Spirit of Gentleness can do no good a Rod must come if the Songs of Sion cannot Mollifie the Thunders of mount Sinai must Terrifie Eli though a good man yet his Reproof wanted life and indignation against sin Nay my Sons for it is no good report that I hear 1 Sam. 2.24 In the matter of Preaching O what weighty things doth the Word contain Truths that should make the very bowels of the Minister to yern and pour out his affections in the Pulpit to rouze up the Peoples thoughts and awaken them from the sleep of sin and security wherein they have lain so long a time Otherwise when they hear of matters of Life and Death Salvation and Damnation they sit like blocks in their Seats as though it were no great matter Thus the golden Bells of Aaron must be rung in several tunes A Minister must labour to be like John Baptist to be a burning and a shining Light more then a Voice there must be life and heat in his Ministry Job 5.35 A Minister had need of many rare and excellent gifts to open the Scriptures to deduce from them to convince of sin to lay a good foundation to move the affections which the holy Scripture is so full of And most certain it is that they which are of the most prodigious wonderful and incomparable parts are most sensible of their own inabilities When God told Moses he would send him to deliver Israel saith Moses to God Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh Exod. 3.10 When none in all Israel or Midian was comparably fit for this Embassage Which of the Israelites had been brought up a Courtier 1 Schollar an Israelite by Blood by Education an Egyptian Learned in all the Wisdom of the Egyptians and was mighty in words and is deeds Acts 7.22 So that he was Learned Wise Valiant Experienced Yet he saith Who am I 'T is to be feared there is few amongst us look Moses his way first upon himself his own insufficiencies How few amongst us that are named to any place begins at Moses What am I where have I Studied and Practiced sufficiently before that I should fill such or such a place of Judicature where have I served and laboured and Preached in inferiour places of the Church that I should fill such or such a place of Dignity or Prelacy there How few like Abram left to say in all humility I am but Dust and Ashes or Jacob Non sum dignus I am not worthy of the least of these Preferments But every man is vapour'd up into Air and as the Air can he thinks he can fill any place Many run into the Magistracy many into the Ministry but who is sufficient for any one Who is sufficient for these things saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Master of Speech 2 Cor. 2.16 This is spoken in the high Commendation of Apollos that he was an Eloquent man and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 powerful and mighty in the Scriptures Acts 18.24 fervent in the Spirit teaching diligently the things of the Lord. Therefore a Minister must have his senses exercised in the holy Scripture even beyond the common sort of believers so that he may be said with Apollos Mighty in the Scriptures And though he may and ought to make use of Councils Schoolmen and Fathers with reverence yet Apostolical Writings are onely to be appealed to as the last Rule of Faith Thus having spoken something of the Ministers Duty though in this Grave Worthy and Learned Audience not to be Your Instructor but so as to bring things to your remembrance Now it remains that I should speak something of the Ministers Dignity and for that you see it falls in my Text. There is no Duty but the Lord crowneth it with some Priviledge Blessing and Dignity and that duty and service of the Ministry is not excluded but expressed more eminently and emphatically Now then We are Ambassadours for Christ This is the great Honour and Dignity of the Ministers of the Gospel to be the Ambassadours of Jesus Christ Therefore we magnifie our Office and this heightens our Calling from the preciousness of the Truth which is to be manifested by us The greatest Mystery in Heaven and Earth that upon which depends the great weight of Salvation a glorious and great dispensation is committed unto us First Ministers are called Watchmen Son of man I have made thee a Watchman unto the house of Israel Ezek. 3.17 a Minister hath relation and is debter unto the whole Church of God This shews the Churches danger and the Ministers duty carefully to watch and to warn to foresee and foretell danger this is the Watchmans duty as not to be blind watchmen given to sleep and slumber Isa 16.10 And upon this very ground the Apostle exhorts the Hebrews that they should give Honour and Obedience unto the Guides Leaders Governours and publick Officers of the Church because they watch for your souls as they that must give account Heb. 13.17 therefore Honour Reverence Obedience and high Estimation is due unto them as the Servants of the most High God which shew unto men the way of Salvation Acts 16.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nomen quaesivit ab omni ambitione prorsus remotum tamen authoritat is maximae si quis suo munere sanctè fungatur Beza in loc Non dubito quin de Pastoribus loquatur reliquis Ecclesiae gubernatoribus Nam neque tunc Christiani Magistratus erant quod vigilare cos dicit pro animabus ad spirituale regimen propriè pertinet Primo obedientiam deinde honorem illis deferre jubet Haec duo necessario requiruntur ut plebs fidem ao simul reverentiam Pastoribus habeat Nam quo quisque plus laboris suscipit nostra causa quo majori difficultate vel periculo se nobis impendit eo sumus illi magis obstricti Cal. in Loc. Secondly Because this obedience