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A63260 The pastor's care and dignity, and the people's duty a sermon preach'd at the assembly of ministers at Taunton, 7th September, 1692 / by G.T. Trosse, George, 1631-1713. 1693 (1693) Wing T2304; ESTC R23764 21,711 65

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to believe in Christ and to worship God he would willingly undergo all Persecutions home to a cruel and disgraceful Death And so again I am ready not to be bound only Acts 21.13 but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus For his Praise and Glory so also ought we to be zealous toward it if ever we hope to fulfil our Ministry 8. Such ought to be loving and affected toward the Church and People of God to st a due Value upon their Souls and to have an ardent good will toward them Stewards should have Love toward the Family rejoyce in its welfare delight in its Prosperity c. without which they will either carelesly neglect or heedlesly and heartlestly perform their Duty toward them So must Ministers be toward their People and herein also follow that glorious Pattern St. Paul who says concerning the Jews I say the truth in Christ Rom. 9.1 3. I lie not my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart For I could wish myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh And again Brethren Rom. 10.1 my hearts desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved The same ardent Love and earning Bowels had he toward the Gentile Churches so he tells the Corinthians Behold 1 Cor. 12.14 15. the third time I am ready to come to you and I will not be burdensom to you for I seek not yours but you for children ought not to lay up for the parents but the parents for the children And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you though the more abundantly I love you the less I be loved And so also he declares his Love to the Thessalonians 1 Thess 2. ● 8 11. But we were gentle among you even as a nurse cherisheth her children So being affectionately desirous of you we were willing to have imparted to you not the gospel of God only but also your own souls because ye were dear unto us Ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you as a father doth his children So should our hearts be affected toward our People and so we should follow that Precept Feed the flock of God and take the oversight thereof not by constraint 1 Pet. 5.2 but willingly not for filthy lucre but of a ready mind 9. Such must be humble and patient Stewards must be of a composed and even Spirit and not be in a passion and storm for every little Miscarriage else they 'll be unfit to manage the Affairs of a great Houshold So Ministers must be of a setled and undisturbed Spirit not soon angry overlooking passing by and dis-regarding of and not troubled at the ill Humors and unhandsom and provoking Carriage which they must expect to meet with from some or other of the Family yea from them from whom they least expect it and least deserve it This is expresly commanded them a Bishop must be patient 1 Tim. 3.3 4. and so the Servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle to all Men apt to teach Tim. 2. ● 26. patient in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the Truth and that they may recover themselves out of the Snare of the Devil's who are taken captive at his will They must imitate Moses and be zealous in God's Cause but meek and as unconcerned in their own c. 10. Lastly Such must be blameless and free from all Vice commendable praise worthy and shining in all Graces and Vertues in all Gravity and venerable Deportment Stewards must be so or they will never keep up their Authority in the Family if they be vain or vicious every one will despise them So Ministers must excel in all excellent and eminent Manners and Practice and give all good Examples to their People so they are enjoyn'd Not as Lords over God's heritage Pet. 5.3 Tim. 4. but as examples to the flock So is Timothy charged To be an example of the believers in word in comversation in charity in spirit in faith in purity And St. Paul tells us that he was so Brethren Phil. 3 1● 20. be ye followers together of me and marke them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample For our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for the Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ. Which they must do to confirm their Doctrine they must preach out of the Pulpit by their Lives as well as in the Pulpit by their Sermons this they must do to maintain their Authority over and their Respect from the Houshold of God So St. Paul directs Timothy to do having commanded him 1 Tim. 4 12. Let no man despise thy youth He knew that some Persons would be apt to disdain to be taught to be reproved by a young Lad a beardless Boy as we use to say so to contemn him which he warns him against and directs how he may avoid it even by being an Ensample to the Believers in Word in Conversation c. by shining in all Graces Duties and Vertues toward God and Man And this was that which procured to John the Baptist so great Reverence and Respect from Herod Luke 6. He feared John knowing that he was a just man and an holy and observed him and when he heard him he did many things and heard him gladly So that his eminent Life and shining Conversation won him from such a cruel Tyrant awe to his Person attendance to his Doctrine and obedience in many things to his Injunctions tho' in the case of his Herodias rather than be parted from her he would part John's Head from his Body The Title that the Holy Ghost gives Ministers do all engage them hereunto as they are called Embassadors Fathers Lights Stars Angels How grave then how shining how exemplary how heavenly should they be The chief Graces and Duries which they ought to have and perform and the great Vices and Sins which they ought to subdue and avoid we have specified in 1 Tim. 3.1 7. Tit. 1.5 6 8. to which I refer you In a word let us but well study and follow the three Epistles of Paul to Timothy and Titus and we shall need no other Cannons or Directory for he tells Timothy that 't was for this end that he wrote those Epistles to him If I tarry long 1 Tim. 15. that thou maist know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God which is the church of the living God the pillar and ground of truth Now because I know that thro' the Corruptions of our own Nature and our base inward Discouragements and the manifold and great Oppositions and Contradictions that we do or may meet with Motives are useful to excite us to all these