Authority is this May not every Christian do the same Is it not the duty of us all as we are able to instruct exhort reprove one another Yes it is and I would to God it were more generally practised but yet every private Christian cannot do this with the Authority of a Bishop or a Gospel-Minister The Instructions and Exhortations of private Christians are acts of Friendship and Charity and the obligation to it is that mutual concernment and sympathy which the Members of the same Body ought to have for each other In Gospel-Ministers it is an act of Authority like the Censures of a Father a Magistrate or a Judge We do not pretend indeed as St. Paul speaks to have dominion over your Faith to exercise a kind of Soveraign Authority to oblige you to believe any thing meerly because we say it but yet our Authority is such that if in the exercise of our Office we explain the Articles of Faith and Rules of Life to you it lays an indispensible Obligation upon you carefully to examine what we say and not to reject it without plain and manifest evidence that what we teach you is not agreeable to the Will of God revealed in the Scriptures For when we come in the Name and Authority of Christ that man who rejects our Message without being sure that we exceed our Commission rejects the Authority by which we act and he that despiseth despiseth not man but God It is our Work and our Commission to instruct you and it is your Duty to be instructed and whoever shall wantonly reject any Doctrines which do not suit with his humour and interest or oppose some popular mistakes and prejudices against the Instructions of his Guide or turn away his ear from instruction and heap to himself Teachers having itching ears such a man must give a severe account of this neglect and contempt to the great Bishop and Shepherd of Souls While we are careful to discharge our Office in pursuance of that Trust our Great Master hath committed to us what our Saviour tells his Apostles is true of the meanest of us all He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me The like may be said of the Exhortations and Counsels and Directions and Reproofs of our Spiritual Guides they carry great Authority with them they are not like the private Admonitions of our Friends who exhort and reprove out of kindness and their particular concernment for us To reject such Counsels as these does mightily aggravate our sin and our condemnation as every thing does which makes our sin more wilful and obstinate but to reject the Counsels and Reproofs of our Guide is a new act of disobedience to that Authority which Christ has set in his Church Whether you will hear or whether you will obey we must exhort reprove advise and wo be to us if we do not and wo be to those who will not hear who will not obey Our great Master looks upon this as a contempt of his own Authority and this is all the Authority we have We cannot force you to obey our Counsels or Reproofs but ours and your Master will severely punish you if you do not In a word the Instructions Reproofs and Censures of Christ's Ministers carry such Authority with them that they can receive into or shut out of the Communion of the Church which is the onely visible state of Salvation Remission of sins and eternal Life is ordinarily to be had onely in the visible Communion of the Church and therefore the Power of Receiving into the Church by Baptism and of Casting out of the Church by Excommunication which is the onely Authority Christ hath given to these Rulers of his Houshold to Receive in and cast out of his Family is called a Power of Remitting or Retaining sins because the forgiveness of Sins is to be had onely in the Communion of the Church and no man belongs to the invisible Church who does not live in Communion with the visible Church when it may he had The Authority of Christs Ministers is to feed those who are of his Houshold to give them their meat in due season and to judge who shall belong to this Houshold who shall be received in or cast out of Christs Family This is the highest Act of Church Authority on Earth and the onely Sanction of all our instructions counsels and reproofs and therefore this Authority is not intrusted with every Gospel-Minister but is committed to the chief Governours of the Church the Bishops who succeed into the ordinary apostolical Power II. Let us now consider the due Qualifications which are required in Gospel-Ministers and they are two Faithfulness and Prudence Who is that Faithful and Wise Servant First Faithfulness Now Faithfulness in a Servant consists in being true to his Trust and when this is applied to Preaching the Gospel it signifies that he is extreamly careful to publish the whole Mind and Will of God which as it concerns us in this Age includes these following Rules 1. To be careful to acquaint our selves with the Will of God that we may be Scribes which are instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven who are like unto a man that is an housholder which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old The Priests lips must preserve Knowledge but we must first have it before we can teach it others and since none of us now pretend to immediate Inspirations this is a work of difficulty and labour and requires as much faithfulness in our Studies as in the Pulpit It is no argument of Faithfulness whatever it may be of Diligence to run like Ahimaaz without Tidings to vent some crude and indigested thoughts for the Oracles of God 2. Faithfulness requires us to preach nothing for the Will of God but what we are sure to be so to deliver no Message but what we have received in Commission not to indulge our own private conjectures and fancies nor think to mend and sublimate Religion by Philosophical Speculations but to content our selves with the simplicity of the Gospel to Preach Christ Jesus and him Crucified Nothing has done greater mischief to Religion than when the very Teachers of it have been ambitious to be Wise above what is Written All the Articles of the Christian Faith as distinguisht from the Principles of Natural Religion can be known onely by Revelation and therefore there is no reasoning about them any farther than to know what is revealed and what is not revealed is so uncertain and so useless that it is not worth the knowing Since we preach in the Name and by the Authority of Christ we ought not to instruct our People in any thing but what we have his Authority for for this is to exceed our Commission Other nice Speculations may entertain us in private Conversation but when we preach in the Name of Christ
between good and evil and the plain Rules of Morality but the Mysteries of the Kingdom the whole oeconomy of mans Salvation by Jesus Christ is to be known onely by Revelation Christ came down from Heaven to reveal this to us and he instructed his Apostles and his Apostles by their preaching and Writings instructed the Church and have left us a standing Rule of Faith and Manners but yet it is necessary that there should be some men peculiarly devoted to the Service of Religion the study of the Scriptures and the Work of the Ministry to instruct and teach those who have neither leisure nor opportunities for enquiry nor capacity to learn without a Guide which is the case of the generality of Christians especially since Religion has been clogged with such infinite Disputes and there has been so much art used to make the plainest truths difficult obscure and uncertain to corrupt the Christian Faith and to make it comply with mens sensual Lusts or secular Interests A Guide and Instructor is absolutely necessary when there are so many Turnings and Labyrinths wherein men may lose themselves and their way to Heaven But though there were no Disputes in Religion no difficulty in understanding it though all men were agreed about the way to Heaven though the meanest Christian understood the Mysteries of Christianity as well as the greatest Divine yet there would be constant need of a Spiritual Guide while men are apt to be unmindful of their Duty and careless in the practice of it The work of an Evangelical Pastor is not meerly to instruct the Ignorant but to exhort to reprove to admonish to watch over the Lives and Manners of Christians to make seasonable Applications to their Consciences to administer Comfort to afflicted Spirits to excite and quicken the slothful and to encourage the fearful and timerous and to assist and direct men in their Spiritual Warfare how to obtain a glorious victory over the World and the Flesh. This is to feed the Flock of Christ and to give them Meat in due season to instruct them in those things of which they are ignorant and to put them in mind of those things which they already know that their Faith may be turned into a principle of life and action and this heavenly Food may be digested into Bloud and Spirits to the edifying of the Body of Christ in all Christian Graces and Vertues 2. Another part of the Ministerial Office consists in Acts of Discipline and Government Christ has made these Ministers and Servants Rulers over his houshold No Society can be preserved without Order and Government which is as absolutely necessary in the Church as in the State Christ is the Head of the Church the Husband the Shepherd the Lord which are all names of Authority and Power and the Church is his Body his Spouse his Flock his Houshold and Family which are names of Subjection and denote a regular and orderly Society but Christ has now left this World and does not visibly appear among us to direct and govern the Affairs of his Church he is ascended into Heaven where he sits at the right hand of God and exerciseth an invisible Power and Providence for the defence and preservation of his Church on Earth He governs us by his Laws and by his Spirit and by his Ministers for when he ascended on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts to men And 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 Ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ Till we all come in the unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. When our Saviour was risen from the dead he tells his Disciples All power is given unto me both in Heaven and in Earth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alway even unto the end of the World This is their Commission to preach the Gospel and to govern his Church which was not meerly a Personal Commission to the Apostles but extends to all their Successors as appears from Christ's promise to be with them in the discharge of his Ministerial Authority to the end of the World Thus St. John acquaints us that Christ after his Resurrection appeared to his Apostles when they were met together and said unto them Peace be unto you as my Father hath sent me so send I you And as he had said this he breathed on them and said unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained This invested them with Authority but then the actual communication of Power which especially at that time was necessary to the discharge of their Office was reserved for the descent of the Holy Ghost and therefore our Saviour commanded them Not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father that is the gift of the Holy Ghost For says he Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the Earth And accordingly we find that during the time of the Apostles the Supreme Authority of the Church was in their hands which they committed to their Successors and has ever since been exercised by Christian Bishops and Presbyters with regard to their different Order and Power But what is this Power which Christ hath given to his Ministers They have no Rods nor Axes as secular Princes have to compel men to the Faith of Christ and to force their obedience No this is contrary to the Genius and Spirit of Christianity If men will be Infidels if they will be wicked we cannot help it For though we walk in the flesh we do not war after the flesh For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal such as earthly Princes use but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Our Saviour in my Text acquaints us what this Power and Authority is he makes them Rulers over his Houshold to give them meat in due season This is the Authority Christ hath given to his Ministers to instruct to exhort to advise to admonish to reprove and that with sharpness too when there is occasion for it according to the power which the Lord hath given to edification and not to destruction as St. Paul speaks But what
it It gives us a more clear distinct comprehensive knowledge of God and divine things which is an Angelical perfection of the Mind and Understanding and he must be a strange man who can be so constantly employed in the Contemplation of God and the things which relate to another and a better life and not find his Soul ravisht with those unseen and unspeakable Glories who is so constantly employed in taking care of other mens Souls and takes no care of his own who is so frequent in his Devotions as the very nature of our Work exacts from us and not live a most divine and heavenly life There are indeed some who in the most Divine Employment are no great Examples of such a Divine Conversation but I fear they will not be found in the number of these faithful and wise Servants Whoever heartily applies himself to the care of Souls will in the first place take care of his own and the faithful discharge of this Duty will raise us so much above the ordinary Level and Attainments of Christians as will prepare us for a greater Reward and advance us to a more perfect state of Glory Nay that immediate Relation we stand in to Christ who is the Soveraign Lord and Judge of the World if we approve our selves faithful and wise Servants will secure us of a more excellent Reward The Church on Earth and the Church in Heaven is but one Church one Houshold and Family and those whom he has made Rulers of his Houshold here to whom he has committed the greatest places of Trust and Dignity need not fear being degraded in the other World if they adorn their Office and faithfully discharge their Trust here And therefore our Saviour tells his Apostles Verily I say unto you that ye which have followed me in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the Throne of his glory ye also shall sit upon twelve Thrones judging the twelve Tribes of Israel that is that their Reward and Glory in the other World should answer to that place of Trust and Power and Dignity which they had in the Church on Earth and this Promise is no more peculiar to the Apostles than their Office was In a word if we consider what the state of the other World is and who is King there that it is the blessed Jesus our Great High Priest King of Salem or the new Jerusalem and Priest of the most High God how mean and contemptible soever our Office is thought here we need not doubt but the Scene will be mightily chang'd when we come into that Kingdom where the King is a High Priest Let this then beloved Brethren of the Clergy be a mighty Encouragement to us to be very diligent and faithful in the discharge of this great Trust whatever Difficulties we meet with whatever Scorns Reproaches or Sufferings it is but expecting a while and our Lord will come and his Reward is with him and blessed for ever blessed is that Servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing Yea blessed for ever blessed as my Text gives us reason to hope is this our dear Brother whose Remains lie here before us who when his Lord came was found thus doing We may lament the loss of so kind a Relation so true a Friend so faithful a Pastor and Fellow-labourer according to the several interests we had in him but he blessed Soul has fought a good Fight and finished his Course and kept the Faith and is now gone to receive a Crown of Righteousness a Crown of Immortality and Glory He is now gone to that great Bishop and Shepherd of Souls whose Flock he has so carefully and diligently fed and whose wandring and stragling Sheep he has reduced into the Fold To that kind Shepherd who laid down his life for his Sheep and therefore will not fail to reward those who have spent their lives and were ready to have sacrificed them too for the service of Souls When we speak of so great a man it is below his Character to mention such things as would be thought considerable Attainments in meaner persons though indeed a truly great man does nothing meanly A great Mind gives a peculiar grace and decency to common Actions as it was easie to observe in his very Mirth and freest Humours that he never gave the Reins out of his hands but governed himself by the strictest Rules of Prudence and Religion But I shall confine my self to the subject of my Text and consider him onely as a faithful and wise Steward and therefore have very little to adde for I doubt not but you who knew him especially you who have enjoyed the benefit of his Ministry and have lived under his Care and Conduct have already applied what I have discoursed on this Argument to your deceased Pastor and would I have chosen any particular man to have drawn the Character by of a wise and faithful Steward there are not many men I should sooner have thought on than Dr. Calamy to have been the Pattern That he did take care to give you Meat in due season I need not tell you because you all know it If Preaching in season and out of season if publick Instructions and private Applications where they were needful or desired be to feed the Flock of Christ to give Meat to his Houshold and Family this he did and that very faithfully and wisely too In the first place he took care to inform himself and to furnish his own Mind with all useful knowledge and his constant Preaching though without any vain affectation of Learning which serves onely to amuse not to instruct did sufficiently discover both his natural and acquired Abilities He had a clear and distinct apprehension of things an easie and manly Rhetorick strong Sense conveyed to the mind in familiar words good Reasons inspired with a decent Passion which did not onely teach but move and transport the Hearers and at the same time gave both light and heat for indeed he was a good man which is necessary to make a good Preacher he had an inward vital sense of Religion and that animated his discourses with the same Divine Passions which he felt in himself He did not entertain his Hearers with School-Subtilties or a coniectural Divinity with such thin and airy Speculations as can neither be seen nor felt nor understood but his chief care was to explain the great Articles of Faith and Rules of Life what we must believe and how we must live that we may be eternally happy And he did as a faithful Servant ought to do as he declared a little before his death that he never preached any thing but what he himself firmly believed to be true I need not tell you what a troublesome World we have lived in for some years past such Critical times as would try the Principles Spirits of men when a prevailing Faction threatned both Church and State and the fears