engagement to service and employment If we let these Treasures lie by and rust the very rust of them will witness against us 2. 'T is the best testimony of our love the greatest proof of our fidelity to our Lord and Master That great lover of Souls hath intrusted many of them to our care and in them the worth of many Worlds is deposited in our hands Whether they shall live Eternal Ages in Joyes too big for Mortal thoughts to conceive or die the Devil's Slaves and partake his torments depends in great measure upon our care in instructing them What value our Saviour puts upon them is best understood by the price he paid for them they were redeemed with the blood of God and by his passionate recommending them to the care of those whom he appointed their Guides and Instructors Simon Son of Jonah lovest thou me Feed my Sheep And again and a third time lovest thou me Feed my Sheep feed my Lambs If we have any affection for that Saviour of ours to whom we owe our present valuable enjoyments and all our future hopes if any compassion for those souls which are the purchase of his blood if any regard of that important trust that must be accounted for with greatest severity we cannot but bend all the Forces and Powers of our Souls to the discharge of it and apply our selves to it with greatest chearfulness and alacrity in testimony of the great honour he hath put upon us For 3. It is the Noblest employment in the World A work of the greatest Charity and Charity is the work of Heaven The greatest object of compassion in the World are the souls of men blinded by Ignorance enslaved to lust in bondage to the Devil and the greatest labour of Love is that that 's undergone to rescue them out of that captivity To cloath naked backs and feed empty bowels and redeem miserable Captives from the thraldom of merciless Tyrants is a charity that God accepts and highly rewards But to cloath the nakedness of mens understandings by making them wise to salvation to feed poor hunger-starved souls with the bread of life to break off the Devil's fetters and redeem them from hellish tyranny is a charity as much more noble as Eternity exceeds Time as the Souls of men are of more worth than their Bodies 'T is a Work that rejoyces Heaven causes Joy amongst the Angels Those Blessed Spirits keep as it were a Festival upon the day of a sinner's New-birth And shall a work applauded by all the Inhabitants of Heaven be managed with coldness and indifferency with faint and languishing endeavours There 's nothing makes men more Godlike than becoming great and publick Benefactors and none are more Eminently so than they that are instrumental to turn many souls to Righteousness He that hath any sense of true Godliness in his heart cannot but think it one of the greatest blessings God can bestow upon him to make him an instrument of deriving blessings upon a Multitude Much more blessings of that importance that do men good for ever blessings that fit and prepare men for Heaven that shall be everlastingly remembred there with eternal Hallelujahs to God the Author and eternal acknowledgments to men the instruments For it is not to be supposed Ingratitude a Vice so detestible on Earth should ever find any place in Heaven 4. This will be a very great evidence of our own sin cericy 'T is the nature the true Indoles of true Piety where-ever it is to spread and dilate it self All good is communicative and the better any thing is the more diffusive Piety enlarges the hearts of men to espouse the Interest of all mankind 't is a dayly prompter to good and worthy actions whereby others may be advantaged an active restless Principle that can no more cease from benefitting all that come within its reach than fire can cease from burning or a spring from streaming forth The love of God and man are the Elements of its Nature Above all it makes men painful and industrious in their Callings faithful in their own places and stations Since then God hath made it our business and employment in the World to communicate the knowledge of himself and his Christ to men to direct them in the Paths that lead to eternal happiness We cannot have a better evidence that we are partakers of the Divine Nature than by imitating the Divine Goodness in employing those Talents he hath bestowed upon us to the use for which he designed them Our own Sonship will be best made out by our resemblance to our Heavenly Father and Almighty goodness is that Character that most readily offers it self to the minds of men when they would srame an Idea of God within themselves 5. The faithful performance of this duty is recompensed with an ample Superlative reward Every Soul that we are instrumental to bring to Heaven will add a new lustre to our Crown Dan. 12.3 They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the Firmament and they that turn many to righteousness as the Start for ever and ever or if that place be capable of another meaning that of our Saviour will put it out of doubt He that receives a Prophet in the name of a Prophet shall receive a Prophet's neward Where if a Prophet's reward did not in port something extraordinary and transcendent there would be nothing of encouragement and enforcement to the duty And if we had not this assurance of a Divine Promise it might be strongly argued from that natural influence the happiness we are instrumental to procure for other will have upon our own To be instrumental to bring Souls to Heaven to add new Members to the Church Triumphant is to provide so many everlasting Monuments of our pious care and pains whose Joys will all unite and center upon us we looking upon them but as our selves divided Children begotten by us to God with whom we travel'd in pain till Christ was formed in them Besides God who in justice punishes the Accessory as well as the Principal in evil deeds will be more inclinable to reward in us that good that others do by our counsel perswasion and direction by how much he is more prone to shew mercy in which he delights than to afflict the children of men which he does unwillingly And what an encouragement is this to labour in the Lord's Harvest to spend our selves for the good of our Flocks when every soul that we are instrumental to save from death will bring such an accumulation to our Joyes and add a new Coronet to our Crown 3. A third thing in this Charge is a Life conformable to the Doctrine of the Gospel Not to mention the obligations common to us with the rest of Christians there are several considerations peculiar to us as Ministers of the Gospel that enforce the strictest conformity to the Laws thereof 1. Whereas other men by the urgency and exigence of their
small scantling of knowledge will qualifie a man to undertake ex officio the charge of conducting others thither 'T is sufficient for an ordinary Christian to know his own duty his own weaknesses his own temptations but he that hath the care of others souls must know what duty belongs to them in their different Stations What temptations their various conditions are assaulted with and what Weapon are proper to repulse them what dangers they are exposed to and what remedies are to be provided against them The World is a Hospital of diseased souls labouring under variety of spiritual distempers that call for the compassionate skill of the spiritual Physician who should know what remedies to apply to their different maladies and have them alwayes in a readiness How to address against Pride in the Ambitious Covetousness in the Mammonist Cruelty in the Oppressour Craft and Overreaching in the Fraudulent Errour Prejudice and Misperswasion in many a well-meaning but deluded soul How to convince the obstinate and silence the gainsayer to satisfie the scrupulous and confirm the weak to encourage the timerous and alarm the drowsie to make Hypocrisie let faâ—l her Vizard Vain Glory her Plumes and prefumption her delusive hopes to make the stubborn ungovernable spirits of men to understand the â—â—auty and benefit of Government His lips should preserve knowledge that when he speaks it may be as the Oracles of God suitable to the occasion evident to the understanding forcible on the affections otherwise he will never approve himself a workman that needs not be ashamed He must have milk for babes and stronger meat for grown Christians be able to acquaint them with the beauty of God's Works the Impressions of Power Wisdom Goodness that he hath stamp'd on all his Creatures to which an inspection into the Works of Nature is requisite To make them see the Beauty of Providence the watchful care that God hath exercised over his Church in all Ages to which the knowledge of Church History and Antiquities is necessary Above all to make them understand in some good measure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wonders of love and mercy wisdom and goodness displayed in the Work of our Redemption which cannot be well done without great study and serious application of mind to find out the meaning of the Holy Ghost in Scripture which is the only Authentique Volume in the World where the knowledge of these wonders is recorded To a true understanding whereof a great variety of other knowledge in Languages Antiquities Customs of the Eastern Nations lend a very good assistance I might speak my self out of breath before I could give a summary of those things the man of God ought to be instructed in before he be competently furnished for the management of his important Charge The Physician of souls should be well versed in Soul Anatomy know how to govern the Passions of men what 's proper to raise allay and moderate them for he can never well govern the lives of men that doth not in some measure hold the reigns of their affections in his hands So difficult and important is the Ministerial Charge that the Father had reason to say 't was a work Angelorum humeris formidandum and not to be managed by every trifling undertaker So sensible was the great Apostle of the weightiness of it though endowed with extraordinary abilities from Heaven that he cries out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who is sufficient for these things How much then doth it concern us upon whom these ministerial abilities are not conferred but by God's blessing upon our own industry implored by earnest prayer to study pray read meditate that we may be enabled to discharge our Function so that we may not be ashamed of our workmanship that God and our consciences may approve of us that others may receive benefit and we find favour and acceptance in the day of righteous retributions 2. A second thing included in this Charge as it casts a peculiar aspect upon the Ministers of the Gospel is a vigorous endeavour to communicate our light and to impart this saving knowledge to others which is done by instructing their Ignorance and awakening their consideration First by instructing their Ignorance addressing to their Understandings illightning the minds of men to make a right judgment of things The Understanding which is the leading faculty of the soul must first be enlightned before the will which is the principle of action can embrace what 's good and avoid what 's evil What ever the grace of God does in renewing the minds of men it does it by first irradiating the Understanding And the Ministers of the Gospel who are subworkers to Grace must proceed in the same method Light was the first in the Old Creation when the rude mass of being began to put on Beauty and 't is the first in the new Creation when Christ is formed in the soul This therefore must be his first work and business to bring them to a right understanding to restore them to their right minds But he must not think it enough to convey truth into their understandings and leave it there but he must work it upon their affections by awakening their consideration by all the forcible motives of perswasion by all the arts of wise and prudent insinuation forcing all the passions and affections within men to engage on the side of truth to print it the deeper in their minds Sometimes awakening their fears by representing the terrours of the Lord sometimes animating their Hopes by shewing them the recompence of the Righteous He must never give them over till the truth is rooted in their souls and till the fruits of piety appear in their lives No nor then neither but still he must be watering the tender plants still cherishing all good beginnings the first sproutings of piety and encouraging small proficients to greater growth the good proficients to aspire after perfection till Grace ripen into Glory and all the Runners in this Race all the Combatants in this Warefare have got the Crowns on their Heads and the Palms of Victory in their Hands Never forgetting all the while to beg of God who alone gives the encrease to Paul's planting and Apollo's watering to crown his endeavours with success And to excite himself hereto such considerations will be useful 1. That this is the end for which all Ministerial abilities were bestowed Ephs 4.11 12. He gave some Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastors and Teachers For the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the edifying of the Body of Christ All these several Orders of Ecclesiastical Persons and all variety of gifts that qualifie for the discharge of their several Functions were for the benefit of the Church of God And no Talents shall be more severely accounted for than those given for this use The very bestowing them is an exaction of duty the receiving them like that of Press-money an
We may by this happy Union of Purity both in Life and Doctrine be Instruments of begetting such a quick and lively sense of Religion in the hearts of men such a serious and sober practice of it in their lives such a Zeal in them to transmit it down to their Posterity that the places we live in may be the better for us to the World's end and all after-Ages may reap the fruits of our endeavours The whole Christian World hold their Religion at this day from those that were the first Planters of it every Age since hath been irradiated with their light and swayed by their Great Examples The Children of Light in all after Ages acknowledge them for their spiritual Fathers and the Generations yet to come will rise up and call them blessed They had extraordinary Abilities you 'l say and brought Credentials from Heaven the Gift of Miracles to attest the Truth of their Doctrine 'T is true they had so and so 't was necessary they should being to propagate a new Doctrine a Doctrine so contrary to all the Religions then received in the World they being so few and having such a wide Province as the World assigned them and that so entirely captivated by Satan But God who proportions the measure of his Gifts to the necessities of the Age in which they are to be employed is not wanting to bestow upon us even in this Age what 's needful for the maintenance of true Religion and succesful opposition to the Kingdom of Darkness Inspired Gifts and Miracles were then necessary to convert a Heathen World Abilities acquired by God's blessing on our own Industry employed with honest hearts seconded by good example influenced by the Spirit of God are as sufficient for this Age as Miracles were for that Manna wane cessary in the Wilderness where all ordinary and natural supplies were wanting but when Israel arrived in Canaan where the necessities of life were supplied in a natural way from the Plenty and Fertility of the Soil their miraculous food ceased nor do we find that stubborn mutinous People ever repining at the loss of it their necessities being amply provided for without it I perswade my self were Miracles necessary for the Age we live in we should not want them The Spirit of God sent on purpose to enable for the Work of the Ministry doth still afford all necessary Aids Inspired Gifts indeed are ceased and Miracles but the gracious effects of it upon the Hearts of men attending our Ministry are still continued Where ever I see a Soul that 's humble and pure and charitable rejoycing in God despising the World patient in Sufferings and forgiving injuries and enemies there I am sure the Spirit of God hath Breathed Nay there he dwells And thanks be to God the World is not so degenerate but that many of this temper may be found that owe this Renovation of their minds to the influence of the Divine Grace upon them in the use of the present Ministry So that what was adapted to the Circumstances of the first Ages of Christianity that is ceased but what things accompany Salvation what tend to renewing the Image of God in the minds of men fitting them to be partakes of the Inheritance of the Saints in light these are still continued and shall be to the World's end Let us therefore my Brethren acquit our selves like faithful Stewards in the Discharge of our mighty Trust Those Souls that were redeemed with the blood of God are committed to our care Let not what was so dear to him be vile and cheap with us Let us think no pains too great no labour and circumspection too much to be used in such a weighty affair Cursed saith the Prophet is he that doth the Work of the Lord negligently And the more important the Work is the heavier will be the Curse upon either total neglect or lazy performance We have two Powerful Engines to reform a depraved World the Purity of our Doctrine and the Piety of our Lives and they never work kindly and effectually but in Conjunction Never Conjunction of happy Stars ever portended such Blessings to the World as these Gemella Sydera these Twin-Lights when they twist their beams and shed their united Influence upon it These would make us such a Light of the World as would chase all works of darkness out of it the Rulers of the darkness of this World would not be able to stand before us if we put on this Armour of Light A knowing and well instructed Piety is both Armour and Ornament Armour both of defence and offence the weapons of our warfare that will render us succesful in fighting the Lord's Battels signally instrumental in reducing a stubborn rebellious World to obedience to the Laws of our Blessed Saviour the Captain of our Salvation Let but this Command in the Text be obeyed and we are secure of his Aids whose Banners we fight under For if our Light so shine before men they will see our Good Works and Glorifie our Father which is in Heaven We shall hereby secure our own Salvation credit the Gospel rejoyce the Angels in converting Sinners make all good men with thankful hearts and tongues bless God for us and our selves after we have for a while been burning and shining Lights in the World shine as Stars for ever and ever in the Upper Regions of Light and Bliss FINIS ERRATA Page 7. line 27. read enlightning for illightning page 17. line 19 read Epictetus for Epectetas