to the Apostle's arguing it is an impossible Event that Men should believe without hearing the Gospel and hear without a Preacher But the converting and saving of Souls is to be ascribed to God And thus in the Spiritual Husbandry the Occasions of Pride and Slothfulness are equally removed As the same Apostle saith He that plants is nothing and he that waters is nothing but God that gives the Increase This Consideration should be an Incentive in our Breasts to petition the God of all Grace that he will please to give Life and Efficacy to his Word In Jacob's Vision of the mysterious Ladder that reach'd from Heaven to Earth the Angels were ascending and descending An Emblem of a Minister's Duty they must first ascend in Prayer and Contemplation and then descend in preaching to the People 'T is observable that sometimes Men of excellent Accomplishments are blasted in their Ministry and others of meaner Abilities but of more holy Affections are very instrumental to save Souls The Reason is plain those who are most frequent and fervent in Prayer obtain the richest Abundance of the Spirit and are usually most blest with Success When the Apostles were filled with the Holy Ghost descending in the significant Emblem of fiery Tongues what an admirable Influence had their Preaching upon the obdurate Jews The first Sermon presently convinc'd and converted three thousand that were Murderers of our Saviour with the Stains of his Blood fresh upon them Tongues of Flesh are without vigor make no lasting Impression upon the Hearers Tongues of Fire have a divine Force and Operation to dispel the Ignorance and Errors of Mens Minds to quicken the dull Earth of their Affections to refine and purify their Conversations Lastly To sum up all in one general Consideration He serves Christ that employs all his Abilities and uses all Opportunities in the Circle of his Calling as was before spoken of for the Honour of our Saviour This is represented in the Parable of the Talents which the Master committed to his Servants different in their Number but to be faithfully improved for the Master's Interest Under the Talents are comprised all that we have and are whether in the Order of Nature and with respect to our civil State in the World all our intellectual and sensitive Faculties all our innate and acquired Endowments our Time our Health our Dignities and Power our Estates or Spiritual Blessings all the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit the Light of the Gospel all the Advantages we have of doing or receiving Good for our more excellent and immortal part the Salvation of our Souls Every one according to the Character wherewith he is invested in this World and according to his Capacity of doing Good must be diligent in the service of Christ. In what Relations soever Men are as Fathers Masters or Magistrates in a superiour Rank or as Friends and Associates in an equal Line and as they stand related to all Men they are either by Authority and Command or by Counsel and compassionate Care and Encouragements to promote with Diligence their Temporal and Eternal Welfare The Apostle's Advice with respect to Acts of Beneficence for relieving the Poor Let us do good unto all as we have opportunity is by just Analogy binding to all other Expressions of Love to direct to perswade Men to their Duty to comfort them in their Sorrows to assist them in all their Wants and Exigencies Briefly the Wisdom and Goodness of Christ's Servants consists in their faithful improving all their Talents for his Glory as our Saviour declares Who is that wise and faithful Servant and Well done good and faithful Servant 2. We are to shew upon what accounts our Service is due to Christ. If we seriously consider things it will be evident that by all the Titles of Justice and Gratitude by all Divine and Rational Rights we are obliged to serve him intirely and for ever In the present State there are four ways whereby Men become Servants Some are born Servants some are by ransom and purchase some by victorious rescue and deliverance others are Servants by Covenant and Agreement Now all these Titles concur in obliging us to serve Christ. 1. We are his Servants by Nature he has an original and unalianeble Right in us as our Creator God to satisfy the Inquiry of Moses defines himself I am All the intimate and eternal Attributes of the Deity are implyed in that short Title He is the only necessary Being by his Nature and consequently has all Perfections in himself and is the Fountain of all Being His Hands made us and fashioned us he breathed into us a living Soul All our Faculties and their Efficacy are from him He produces this evidence of his Right in us Remember O Jacob thou art my Servant I have formed thee The Psalmist declares Know ye that the Lord he is God 't is he that made us and not we our Selves we are his People and Sheep of his Pasture We owe to him an Obedience as ready unconstrain'd as the meekest Creatures pay to those that feed and conduct them His Perfections qualify him to be our absolute Master for his Will is always directed by infinite Wisdom 't is the Rule of Goodness and his Benefits in making and preserving us acquire to him a supreme Right in us Now if there be a Spark of Reason in our Minds 't is impossible to have the least Shadow of doubt that a derivative Being has a dependent Working and is to employ his active Powers according to the Will of his Maker as the Rule and his Glory as the ultimate End of all The Connexion is indissolvable for of him and through him and to him are all things The Psalmist ardently calls the whole World Bless the Lord all ye his Works in all Places of his Dominion The Angels who by Nobility of Nature are superiour to all his other Works yet are not sui juris at their own disposals but his Ministers that do his Pleasure They employ their excellent Strength in humble Obedience to his Commands they fly with incredible Swiftness to perform his Orders And in the visible World the Heavens in their Motion the Earth in its Seasons with an invariable Tenor observe the Law impress'd upon them in their Creation As the Psalmist speaks they continue this day according to thy Ordinance for all are thy Servants And if the Creatures without Reason and Sense are perfectly subject to his Will much more should Man who understands his Obligations to the Creator Now the Son of God made us and maintains our Beings by his powerful Providence from whence it follows we are under an eternal Obligation to serve and glorify him to the utmost of our Capacities His unexcited and most free Goodness decreed our Beings from everlasting and in time brought us into the World whereas he might have created innumerable other Persons for Omnipotence is without Bounds and left us in
Glory of Heaven and represent it to the Eyes of Christians so as to ravish their Hearts In short to make such a convincing Discovery of Things unseen that Men may judg that only the Saints above are truly and perfectly Happy and only the Reprobates in Hell are really and finally miserable and accordingly regulate their Lives I shall add to this that the Language of Sermons should be suitable to the quality of the Matter and the end of that Divine Ordinance A Minister must speak as becoming the Oracles of God With solemn Expressions according to the Sanctity and Importance of the great Mystery of Godliness The Apostle tells us his Speech was not with the enticing Words of Man's Wisdom A Luxuriant flourish of Words a vain Ostentation of Wit debases the Majesty enervates the Vigour and corrupts the pure taste of the Gospel True Eloquence is always suitable to the Subject and springs from it as the native Beauty of the Countenance that springs from a sound Complexion of Body and is not varnish'd with the Paint of Art When the Truth of Eternal Things is planted in the Heart and the vital Sense of them is shed in the Will and Affections it will furnish us with fit and powerful Words to express them Besides in the managing of a sacred Argument salus populi suprema lex esto The Salvation of Souls is the Rule to which the Language of Sermons must be parallel Divine Truths must be represented with those clear and solemn Expressions as may powerfully affect the Conscience and excite the practick Faculties of the Soul with such weighty and serious Words as may awaken Sinners to fear the powerful and terrible Judg of the World and to hate Sin that provokes his Displeasure The curious Contexture of Words of pleasant Sound without Substance is an elaborate Folly 'T is the framing a Net only fit to catch Flys the vain Applauses of the injudicious not to take Souls the Divine Work of a Minister And the Account must be woful for those Ministers to the Redeemer of Souls whose Study Thoughts and Time are wasted for so guilty and base an end 3. The Motives of their Affections and Endeavours in this Holy Service must be the Love of Christ and precious Immortal Souls Our Saviour with repeated Earnestness recommends this to St. Peter Lovest thou me feed my Lambs feed my Sheep The Salvation of Souls is his dearest Glory and satisfying Pleasure As it was prophesied that he shall see of the Travel of his Soul and be satisfied And our zealous Endeavours to save them from Death is the natural and necessary Effect of our Love to him A true Minister of Christ has a diviner Principle a sublimer Soul than to aim at carnal Fruitions at temporal and terrestrial Rewards The blessed End of his Office must be the End of all his studious Thoughts and Labours the Honour of his Master in the Conversion and Salvation of Sinners If the World be in their Eye and Heart as the Scope of their Ministry they are guilty of the most unnatural Disorder by employing the most excellent means for low and sordid Ends they use God to enjoy the World this corrupts and stains their Service Such Mercenaries are empty Vines that only bring forth Fruit unto themselves They have their Reward here But the Love of Christ and Souls reigns in the Heart of a faithful Minister this regulates his Work in order to their spiritual and everlasting Good This will make him descend to the Capacity of the meanest and plainly to instruct them in things concerning their Salvation As Elisha put his Mouth upon the Mouth and his Eyes upon the Eyes and his Hands upon the Hands of the dead Child and thereby conveyed a living Heat into him so a Minister should apply himself suitably to their Capacity who are but Children in Knowledg 'T is his Duty to raise the low Understandings as well as to humble the high and swelling Passions of Men. This Love to Souls will inspire him with tender melting Affections without which unless God renews the Miracle of Aaron's dry Rod blooming and bearing Almonds our Discourses will be barren without Fruit in the Hearers A plain Sermon dictated from the Heart with a holy Heat of Affections makes a solid Impression upon the Hearers When an elaborate Discourse not animated with the Affections is of little Efficacy As a blunter Iron if burning hot pierces more easily and deeply into a Piece of churlish Wood then a sharper that is cold The Love of Christ and Souls inspires with Joy and Alacrity in his Service No Element is heavy in its own Sphere A mercenary Spirit performs the Work as an irksom Task but Love sweetens all the Duties of the sacred Calling even such as are most distastful to the Carnal This entitles to the blessed Reward The Apostle saith If I preach the Gospel willingly I have a Reward Otherwise his abundant Labours would be of no comfortable account at last 3. The Ministers of Christ must with most faithful Diligence attend his Service The Subject and End of their Work challenges this of them The Conversion and Salvation of Souls What earnest and repeated Calls are necessary to awaken those who are involved in carnal Security to perswade them to love what they hate and to hate what they love and when the Foundation is laid in serious Repentance and the Work of Grace begun what Diligence is requisite to raise it to Perfection How does the malicious incessant Enemy of our Salvation strive by a thousand Temptations to blast our Endeavours The Work of a Minister is not like the Work of an Artificer A Statuary with long Labour cuts the Marble to form it into a noble Image but he leaves his work at his Pleasure and when he resumes it the Matter being durable 't is in the same state towards finishing as when he left it But the Heart of Man is of a strange Nature hard as Marble and fluid as Water Heavenly Impressions are with difficulty made in it and easily defac'd When by many Prayers and Tears many tender Addresses of Ministers the Heart is softened and the Image of Christ the Lineaments of his Divine Graces and Vertues are first drawn in it without a continual Eye and Attendance upon the Work how soon are those blessed Beginnings spoiled and the carnal Lusts regain the Heart How hard is it to prevail with Men to enter into the narrow Way and to preserve them from defiling Lapses in it or woful Excursions into the pleasant ways of Sin and to bring them safely to Heaven The solemn Adjuration of the Apostle to Timothy should excite Ministers with the most watchful Care and useful Diligence to attend their Work I charge thee before the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judg the quick and the dead at his appearing and his Kingdom Preach the Word be instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long suffering
as Companions in a Journey are together all day but have set times of refreshing themselves so a Christian in his coelestial Journey is to walk always before God uprightly in all temporal Affairs to regard his Presence and every day at set times to draw near to him by Prayer and Thanksgiving and to represent his Greatness and Glory in so solemn a manner that there may be a serious habitual Constitution of Spirit respecting him in all his Actions If there be a neglect of heavenly Communion with him and of our spiritual State and a perpetual Consumption of our Thoughts Time and Strength for secular Advantages and Interests Men are Slaves of the World not Servants of Christ. 3. The Service of Christ is more eminently performed in some special Offices ordained for the Glory of God and the publick Good And such are the civil Magistracy and the spiritual Ministry 1. Magistrates the highest and subordinate in the Scale of Government are by designation to their Office to serve him They are called the Ministers of God for the good of the People Princes may be considered in a double Capacity as Christians and as Princes and in both they are obliged to serve Christ. As Christians by an inflexible necessity without Priviledg or Dispensation they are bound to obey his holy Laws as strictly as every private Person as Princes they are subject to him not only upon the account of his Deity simply considered but his Office as Mediator In his mortal State he did not exercise Regal Power nor appeared with conspicuous marks of Royalty for it was incongruous to his End The Redemption of the lost World was to be obtained by Sufferings But his Supremacy over the World is a Prerogative annext to his being Head of the Church a Title that infinitely transcends all Angelical much more Human Principalities He is stiled the Prince of the Kings of the Earth Princes are commanded to kiss the Son a Token of the Adoration and Homage they owe to him As Princes they are to exercise their Power and Authority to repress Wickedness and preserve the publick Tranquillity For without the restraints of Fear the most savage fierce Beasts would be less dangerous than Men to Men. They are to encourage Moral Goodness and not only to promote the civil Prosperity but eternal Felicity of their Subjects Accordingly the Apostle exhorts Christians to offer up Prayers and Supplications for Kings and all in in Authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable Life in all Godliness and Honesty When Princes are inspired with Sentiments and Resolutions becoming their Lieutenancy to the Lord Christ when they govern their Greatness and employ their Power in subserviency to his Interest when they protect and encourage all that seek the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof as the clear direct way that leads to it they shall obtain the brightest richest Crowns in the State of Glory But those who are a Terror to the Good and encourage evil Doers their mighty aggravated Sins will sink them into the deepest Damnation 2. Those who are consecrated to the Spiritual Function of teaching and governing the Church are in a peculiar manner the Servants of Christ not as he is the Lord of the Earth but of Heaven considering the Quality of their work and the End of it For 't is wholly conversant about the Souls of Men to open their Eyes and turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of Sins and inheritance amongst them which are sanctified by Faith that is in Christ And as 't is express'd in other Words of Scripture to translate them from the Kingdom of Darkness into the Kingdom of his dear Son This Relation extends it self from the highest Apostle to the lowest in the sacred Office St. Paul frequently stiles himself the Servant of Christ and by that Title he expresses any that are by office employed for the saving of Souls The Servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle to all Men apt to teach As Christ is called the Servant of God by way of Eminency and was anointed to to preach the Gospel so those who are dedicated to that Work are his Servants in the most proper sense and are to follow him the most excellent Example and highest Master in that Divine Work This I will more particularly insist upon being suitable to the present occasion and lay down some Rules directing how the Ministers of Christ may serve him acceptably so as to be rewarded in the Heavenly Glory 1. They must by serious study furnish themselves with Divine Knowledg and substantial Learning for the Discharge of all the parts of their Office To instruct the Ignorant to refute the Erroneous to reform the Unholy and to comfort the Humble and Disconsolate Our Saviour compares the Ministers of the Gospel unto a Man that is an Housholder which brings forth out of his Treasure things new and old 'T is his Duty to give to the Flock Meat in due season for which not only Fidedelity but Wisdom is requisite 'T is the Apostle's charge to Timothy Give attendance to Reading to Exhortation to Doctrine meditate on these things give thy self wholly to them that thy profiting may appear before all If Timothy who had supernatural Gifts by Inspiration was obliged to be intent and diligent in the application of his mind to the Mysteries of Godliness how much more should those who must acquire Knowledg by search and Industry and the Divine Blessing upon it As Fountains by secret Passages derive from the Sea the Waters that flow in their Streams so Ministers by reading and Contemplation and Prayer in their Retirements obtain the Knowledg of Divine Things which they convey in their Sermons to the People With the Notional an Experimental Knowledg of Divine Truths is absolutely necessary to a Minister to save himself and most useful to save others 'T is not a perfect Systeme of Divinity in the Head not an universal knowledg of spiritual Things confined to the Brain that has a saving Efficacy 'T is not composing a Sermon with exquisite Art and the delivering of it like an Orator that makes him accepted with God For without a cordial Sense of Divine Truths he only lends his Tongue in that holy Service like a Reciter in a Scene all he does is but external Appearance God sees and requires the Heart without it neither the Head nor the Tongue of a Minister tho his Speculations are sublime and his Words Drops of Gold are of any value And usually the Sermons of such are without profit to the Hearers The sound of words only reaches the Ear 't is the Mind convinces the Mind and the Heart perswades the Heart He that is strongly convinc'd of the Truth of eternal Things he will speak of them with assurance as an Eye witness and in a lively manner He that is burning
in his own Breast will inflame others but if there be no Spark of Celestial Fire in the Minister's Brest if he does not value the Consequence of Divine Truths he speaks of them without a deep concernment and a cold Preacher makes a careless Hearer and the Sermon is lost in the Air between the Lips of the one and the Ears of the other 2. The Matter of their Sermons must be the Doctrine of the Gospel revealed from Heaven to reduce Men to their Duty and restore them to Felicity This is the Tenor of the Commission given by our Saviour to his Apostles Go teach all Nations to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you The preaching unrevealed or trivial things impertinent to the Salvation and Perfection of Souls is directly contrary to the end of their Office The wisest Method of recovering lost Sinners is to unfold the two Covenants and represent the two Worlds to them The first Covenant was with Man created in natural Righteousness and Holiness but was of a short continuance For by his rebellious Sin he made a deadly forfeiture of the Image and Favour of God of Communion with him the Fountain of our Felicity He is cut off from that blessed Life and must remain in the state of Corruption and Death for ever without redeeming Mercy 'T is a necessary preparative for the Conversion and Recovery of Sinners to convince them of the guilt pollution and dominion of Sin and the everlasting Hell that follows it that they may be roused out of their Security to fly from the Wrath to come The Terrors of the Lord make the first Breach into the Hearts of Men and Grace victoriously enters and subdues the reluctant Will After the Conviction of Sin 't is seasonable to convince them of the all-sufficient Righteousness of Christ that he is the Tree of Life for the reviving dead Sinners that he is Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption a universal Remedy for all the Evils that lie upon Man in his fallen State And 't is requisite to open the Terms upon which God offers his Mercy the Law of Faith in the Gospel that consists of Commands and Promises both to check Presumption that flatters so many into Hell and to prevent Despair that works as dangerously though not so frequently to the Ruin of Souls That men may not from corrupt minds and carnal Affections misinterpret the Gospel to live at ease in their Sins a faithful Minister must shew them that the Promises of Pardon and Salvation are made only to a certain order of Sinners the repenting and reforming Sinners that rely upon Christ alone for their acceptance that he is a King as well as a Priest and none can regularly depend upon his Sacrifice without Subjection to his Scepter In short the soveraign Balm of his Blood is to be applied only to those whose Hearts are broken for their Sins and from them And to raise and encourage drooping Spirits that feel the intolerable Burthen of Sin and both from their Guilt and Unworthiness and their Impotency to perform the Conditions of the Gospel are apt to be hopeless of obtaining Salvation the Gospel assures us that God is rich in Mercy ready to receive humble contrite Suppliants That although Sins are of different degrees of Guilt and accordingly Conscience should be affected and the Springs of Godly Sorrow be opened yet God can as easily forgive ten thousand Talents as a few pence that the Blood of Christ cleanses from all Sins those that are of a Crimson dy as well as from those of a lighter Tincture That the Promise of Pardon is without limitation to all penitent Believers And although in the fallen State Man is destitute of Spiritual Strength no Man can come to Christ except the Father draw him though Carnal Lusts have fetter'd Nature and captivated the Will that Men cannot rescue themselves from the Bondage of Sin yet Divine Grace is offered in the Gospel to enable us to do what is impossible without it and the Holy Spirit is promised to all that sincerely ask it who is stiled the Spirit of Love and Power and a sound Mind with respect to his Heavenly Operations in the Hearts of Men. Therefore as it would be Folly in a Scholar that is invited to the School of a learned Master to discourage himself from going because he wants Learning For that is to be obtained there and only his Desire and Capacity of Instruction is requisite for his Admission so 't is unreasonable for those who have a humble sense of their Sins and Misery to be discouraged from coming to our Saviour for he is most willing to reconcile God to them by his prevailing Mediation and to communicate Divine Grace that they may perform that Obedience which God will graciously accept This is to imitate the Apostles of whom 't is said We preach not our selves but Christ Jesus the Lord. 'T is of excellent use also for Preachers often to represent to Men the two Worlds so vastly different in the Qualities the Degrees and Duration of the Good and Evil Things that are enjoyed or suffered in them that they may discover the Errors of their Ways before they come to their End and Death opens their Eyes to see and lament what is lost and never to be recover'd All the admired Things in the sensible World are perishing Vanities like an inchanted Feast that feeds the Eye without real Nourishment But in the Coelestial World all is substantial satisfying and eternal All the Evils the Calamities the Injuries and Troubles suffer'd here are no more to the Plagues prepared by revenging Justice for impenitent Sinners than the slight razing of the Skin is to a deadly Wound in the Heart Now the fundamental Delusion of Men is in valuing the present state of Things above what is Future and infinitely better or worse They think and call them only Happy who live in Pomp and flow in Riches and Pleasures but as vainly as the Heathens dignified their Idols with the Titles of Coelestial Deities They count them only miserable that are in Poverty Sickness and Afflictions here And as 't is observed by the great Physician that if a delirous Person proposes his incohoerent Fancies seriously as the Product of Consideration his Case is more dangerous and hardly curable So the solemn Folly of Men that think it reasonable to esteem what is present and sensible above what is future and spiritual and accordingly to choose the present as the real substantial Good and neglect the future as a matter of Fancy and Conceit is hardly cured Their Minds and Affections their Aims and Desires center in the Earth their Fears Anxieties Sorrows terminate there And 't is one necessary part of the Minister's Work to devest the World of its Masquing Habit that appears so rich and glittering in the Night by Torch-light to strip it naked as it shall burn in the consuming Fire at the last Day And to unvail the
and Doctrine What Opiate can stupify the Conscience of idle Ministers so as not to be awakened by these ardent Expressions How can they appear before the most High and Everlasting Judge What will be a sufficient Defence before his inlightned Tribunal What Apologies will skreen them from his fiery Displeasure Will their Ignorance or Abundance or Slothfulness excuse the neglect of their Duty They may deceive themselves with vain Allegations to palliate their Negligence but God will not be mocked If in the last Judgment those who neglected to feed the Poor with material Bread to support their Bodies shall be placed with the Reprobates at the Left Hand of Christ how can those whose Office it is to dispense the Bread of Life to Souls and neglect to feed them escape Condemnation The useful Diligence I have been urging upon Ministers is not only necessary in publick solemn preaching the Word but in seasonable applying it to particular Persons within their Compass and Care Of this we have an excellent Pattern in St. Paul who gives this Account of his Spiritual Work We preach Christ warning every Man and teaching every Man in all Wisdom that we may present every Man perfect in Christ Jesus A Minister should with watchful Diligence take all Opportunities for the saving of precious Souls and sometimes one short Lesson seriously applied to a Person in private more powerfully affects the Conscience and moves the Affections than a long and well studied Sermon 4. The Servants of Christ must with Resolution and Constancy despise the Allurements and the Terrors of the World in performing the Duties of their Office The Apostle declares his fixed Mind I count not my Life dear to me so that I may finish my Course with Joy and the Ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus Tho amongst the pikes of a thousand Dangers he was never faint-hearted much less false-hearted in the Cause of Christ. The two principal parts of the Minister's Duty are to preserve the Truths of the Gospel inviolate and to open and enforce the Commands of it in their spiritual Purity and Extent They are stiled the Lights of the World and the Salt of the Earth All the Truths of the Gospel are of precious value but not of equal clearness and moment And Christian Charity should moderate between Dissenters in smaller Matters who agree in the main Points of Religion But those Truths of the Gospel that are primary and radical and those that by necessary Consequence are deduc'd from them require our most vigilant Care and Zeal to preserve them entire and untainted 'T is a universal Duty respecting Christians to search out the Truth as 't is in Jesus to understand the Reasons of the Religion they profess and to contend earnestly for the Faith once delivered to the Saints But the Ministers of Christ who by virtue of their Office are Depositaries of the Truth are chiefly obliged to assert and defend it Especially when there are many Snares spread abroad to entangle ignorant and unstable Souls with dangerous Errors Our Saviour has set us a pattern of our Duty who declared For this end was I born and came into the World to bear witness to the Truth They are false to the sacred Trust reposed in them when by Silence the Truth is in danger of being opprest 'T is their Duty and Glory to be valiant for the Truth when false Doctrines boldly oppose it and poyson'd Arrows are shot into the Eyes of Men by erroneous Teachers 'T is said of John the Baptist He was not the Light but as next in Dignity he came to bear witness of the Light But if they withdraw their Testimony when the Truth challenges it they will be covered with Confusion at the last Day according to that fearful Threatning Whosoever denies me before Men him will I deny before my Father which is in Heaven The ignorance of Saving-Truths will not excuse the People and Silence will condemn their Guides who should illustrate and defend the Truth even in the Face of Danger Besides they are guilty of Unfaithfulness to Christ who by colourable temperaments adulterate the Purity of the Truth and by milder modifications qualify and lessen Errors who would joyn the Word of God with the Traditions of Men which are incompatible as Mid-night and Mid-day None are more artificial than fearful Spirits They have many Turns and Expedients to compound necessary Controversies and to make it seem indifferent which Opinion is chosen They transform their fearful Apprehensions into Counsels of Prudence and disguise the baseness of their Cowardise under the Reputation of being Discreet The wisest of Men who understood the incomparable value of Truth advises Buy the Truth and sell it not And we are told by St. James The Wisdom that is from above is first pure and then peaceable But the Worldly-wise with Art and Industry endeavour to secure their outward Peace with the violation of Truth How contrary is the Judgment of God to the vain Opinions of Men He is jealous of the Simplicity of his Truth and the Chastity of his Worship and will at last convince such of their extream Folly who would reconcile Religions that can never flow into one another 'T is therefore an indispensable Obligation of the Servants of Christ to adhere to the eternal Truth in Scriptures tho vilified by some as an insufficient Rule or impertinent and not absolutely necessary And to preserve the pure Doctrine and transmit it to succeeding Ages And this divine Encouragement should sustain them with unfainting Resolution to do their Duty that if they cannot save the Truth from being over-born at present yet the Truth will save them and that it will pierce through all Opposition and be victorious in the Issue The Church of Christ is of a supernatural Original and Order and contrary to the custom of Human Things is enlarg'd and establish'd by the means used to destroy it When the Heathen Powers with the utmost Rage and Cruelty attempted its final Ruine it prosper'd the more The patient Deaths of the Martyrs as well as conspicuous Miracles gave credit and conveyance to the Gospel And the Ministers of Christ must with Faithfulness and Courage enforce the Commands of the Gospel upon all Carnal Men would fain relax the strictness of the Gospel and endeavour to make their Principles correspondent to their Practices They try to bend the Rule to their disordered and licentious Appetites and will not regulate their Hearts and Lives according to the Sanctity of the Rule And those who are high in the World very uneasily bear the Conviction and Reproof of their Sin But a Minister must be faithful to Christ and their Souls and press upon them the Commands of our Judg to pluck out the right Eye and cut off the right Hand upon the heavy Penalty of being made entire Victims to revenging Justice for ever 5. They must with a prudent temperament of Zeal and Meekness insinuate
and open a Passage for sanctifying and saving Doctrine into the Hearts of Men. This is the successful Method to convince those who are seduced with Errors and to reclaim the Disobedient to the Wisdom of the Just. The Defence of the Truth must be managed in a calm peaceable manner as the Sun scatters and overcomes the darkness of the Night and Clouds without noise 'T is the Apostle's Counsel In Meekness instructing those that oppose themselves Without Contumelies and Revilings for Injuries convince no Man The Human Spirit is naturally proud and stiff and will resist such Arms Fierceness and Scorn irritate the Passions and hinder impartial and serious Deliberation that opens the Mind for receiving the Truth To perswade the Soul the mild and placid manner of conveying the Truth is as effectual as the Irradiation and Evidence of it And to reclaim the disobedient there is nothing more powerful than Gentleness and the constraint of Love The most fervent Reprehensions of Sinners must be mixt with tenderness to their Souls Under the Law there was a severe Prohibition of offering Sacrifices with the common Fire But only with that Fire that came from Heaven and was preserved Day and Night in the Temple The Allusion is easy and fit The Reprehension of Sinners in the Pulpit must be always from Zeal for the Honour of God and the Eternal Salvation of Souls not from natural fiery Passions If a Minister denounces the Judgments of God with Compassion to Souls if he thunder and lightens in his Sermons a Shower of repenting Tears will follow in convinced Sinners 6. A Minister of the Gospel must joyn a holy Life with found Doctrine according to our Saviour's Description of him He that shall do and teach my Commands shall be great in the Kingdom of Heaven He must not only be free from Pollutions but excel in Vertues nothing in his Conversation should be worthy of Reproach nothing but what is worthy of Imitation He must lead a Life answerable to the Excellence and End of his Calling He is to preach a Doctrine so holy divine and venerable that it would become the unspotted Angels to be ministring Spirits in revealing it to Men. He is therefore strictly obliged to shew forth the Power of Godliness and the Beauty of Holiness in all his ways He must imitate and honour his Master who inseparably united saying and doing in himself He must adorn the Gospel by expressing the Efficacy of divine Truths in his Actions Under the Law he that had touch'd a dead Body was forbidden to approach the Sanctuary and what a Violation is it of all the Rules of Decency and Reason for one who is employed in the holy Service of the Gospel to be polluted with dead Works Tertullian writing of the Excellency of Patience and reflecting upon himself how opposite his fiery Nature was to that Vertue was deeply affected with Grief and Shame and drew up his own Arraignment and Process for his Impatience How much juster Cause has an unholy Minister to be surprised with Horrour and Confusion considering the irreconcileable opposition between his Doctrine and his Life How just and stinging is the upbraiding Speech of God to such how peremptory the Rejection What hast thou to do to declare my Statutes and to take my Covenant into thy Mouth since thou hatest to be reformed and hast cast my Words behind thee The End of the sacred Ministry requires Holiness in those who perform it That is to convert Men to the Faith and Obedience of the Gospel Now the Practice of a Minister gives Weight and Efficacy to his Doctrine the exemplifying of it in his Actions is the most powerful perswasive to draw Men to their Duty Therefore the Apostle commands Titus in all Things to shew himself a Pattern of good Works As the Plants that are productive of Balm and Myrrh and Incense have a Fragrancy not only in the precious Liquor that distils from them but all their Branches and Leaves and Bark are Aromatick Thus a Minister of the Gospel must be Holy not only in his Doctrine but in all manner of Conversation Be thou an Example of the Believers in Word in Conversation in Charity in Spirit in Faith in Purity is the solemn Charge to Timothy He that is holy in his Profession and unholy in his Life both discredits the Gospel and hardens Men in their Sins Though his Tongue may direct to Heaven if his Life leads to Hell the Authority of his Actions will be more prevalent than of his Instructions The Vices of a Minister are more conspicuous and infamous than of private Persons As a Blemish in the Eye is more conspicuous and disfiguring than in a concealed Part of the Body and they have the most corrupting destructive Influence upon others For there is nothing more natural than for Men to think that Ministers do not believe what they preach when there is a visible Contradiction between their Lives and their Words That their most zealous Sermons are rather Pageantry than serious Piety and accordingly to slight them This is a principal Reason that the Conversion of Sinners is so rare 'T is not from any defect in the word for that is not like some medicinal Drugs that lose their Virtue by Age it has the same Divine Power to revive dead Souls to transform the carnal into spiritual Persons to clarify the Mind that it may see things invisible to reconcile the Will to the Sanctity of God's Law to calm the stormy Affections and leave an Impression of its Purity in the Hearts of Men but the admirable and secret Grace of the holy Spirit is not usually concomitant with the Ministry of those who grieve him and quench him in themselves and they render the holy Doctrine ineffectual by their discordant Conversations It was the Character of the wicked Pharisees from the Mouth of Christ They say and do not and to them and all that are involved in the same Guilt the Saviour of the World threatens the most heavy Damnation 7. Humble fervent and continual Prayer to the Father of Mercies and the Father of Spirits that he would bless the outward Ministry is requisite to make it effectual The Conversion of Man is not wrought by Man but by the Energy of the holy Spirit God instructs us what he does in the more secret Operations of Grace by what he does in the more visible Operations of Nature This is express'd by the Apostle Paul plants and Apollos waters but God gives the Increase A Man plants a green Stick and waters it but the God of Nature forms the Tree in all its Parts the Root the Sap the Trunk the Branches and the Fruits The planting by the Hand of Man is necessary for the Growth of a Tree but what is that to the Divine Blessing Thus according to the ordinary Method of Divine Grace God unites his marvellous Power with the weak Ministry of Men for the Salvation of Souls and according
the Glorified Saints who are the Princes of his Court and the Heavenly Nobility And the nature of the Work that is sublime and excellent becoming an Intellectual Soul that is Spiritual by Nature and Divine by Grace 'T is the most sweet and easy Service This will seem incredible to those who judg of the Delights of the Spirit by the Principles of the Flesh. In this Sense also the Carnal Man understands not the things of the Spirit Who can discover the Pleasure of Musick to one that was born Deaf or describe the Light of the Sun to one that was ever Blind who can see a Taste The Truth is the Life of Carnal Men has the appearance of Joy but not the reality And the Life of the Saints has a gloomy Melancholly appearance but has an inward cordial Joy incomparably above all the vain flashy Delights of the World A Carnal Man that serves divers Lusts and Pleasures is sometimes rack'd and vex'd betwixt contrary Passions Every Lust has a secret Sting with its Honey And as the corrupt Heart is its own Tempter so the guilty Conscience is its own Tormenter Besides the fearful apprehension of what shall follow in the next World when the revenging Justice of God and the cruel Malice of Satan shall concur to make the Sinner miserable is sufficient to poyson the sweetest Pleasures of Sin But the Life of a Saint is regulated by a Law that is always at Union in its Precepts He has Divine Assistance to enable him to perform it His gracious Master will pardon his Infirmities The Content of Conscience the Joy of the Holy Ghost that rewards our Duty here far exceeds all the Severity and Difficulty that the Carnal Nature complains of in obeying the Divine Law The Yoke of Christ is truly easy and his Burthen truly light His Service is the most profitable He will protect maintain and everlastingly reward his Servants Is there any Master so rich so liberal so faithful as Christ How often do the Slaves of the World complain that they have spent themselves in vain As Jacob reproached Laban Thou hast deceived me and changed my Wages ten times so may the Worldlings say whose Hopes have been often charm'd with the specious Promises of the World and deluded in the end Dear bought Experience at last convinces them of their woful Folly in seeking for Happiness where it was not to be found and neglecting to seek it where it was But the Servants of Christ have at the present their Fruit unto Holiness and in the end everlasting Life The Service of Christ here is Freedom Victory Empire and hereafter a triumphant Felicity I shall now address my self to the present Occasion which is to pay our last solemn Respects to the Memory of the Reverend Dr. Thomas Jacomb who was so universally known esteem'd and beloved in this City that his Name is a noble and lasting Elogy I shall not give an account of the time he spent in Cambridg where he was Fellow of Trinity Colledg and worthily esteemed in that flourishing Society But confine my Discourse to his Ministry in London Here the Divine Providence disposed him into the Family of a Right Honourable Person to whom he was deservedly very acceptable and whose real and most noble Favours conferred upon him were only to be equalled by his grateful and high Respects and his constant Care to promote serious Religion in her Family He was a Servant of Christ in the most peculiar and sacred Relation And he was true to his Title both in his Doctrine and in his Life He was an excellent Preacher of the Gospel and had a happy Art of conveying Saving-Truths into the Minds and Hearts of Men. He did not entertain his Hearers with Curiosities but with Spiritual Food He dispens'd the Bread of Life whose vital Sweetness and nourishing Vertue is both productive and preservative of the Life of Souls He preach'd Christ Crucified our only Wisdom and Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption His great design was to convince Sinners of their absolute want of Christ that with flaming Affections they might come to him and from his Fulness receive Divine Grace This is to water the Tree at the Root whereby it becomes flourishing and fruitful whereas the laying down of Moral Rules for the exercise of Vertue and subduing vicious Affections without directing Men to derive Spiritual Strength by Prayer and in the use of Divine Ordinances from the Mediator the Fountain of all Grace and without representing his Love as the most powerful motive and Obligation to Obedience is but pure Philosophy and the highest effect of it is but unregenerate Morality In short his Sermons were clear and solid and affectionate He dipp'd his Words in his Soul in warm Affections and breath'd a Holy Fire into the Breasts of his Hearers Of this many serious and judicious Persons can give Testimony who so long attended upon his Ministry with delight and profit His constant Diligence in the Service of Christ was becoming his Zeal for the Glory of his Master and his Love to the Souls of Men. He preach'd thrice a Week whilst he had Opportunity and Strength He esteemed his labour in his sacred Office both his highest Honour and his Pleasure At the first appearance of an Ulcer in his Mouth which he was told to be Cancerous he was observed to be not much concerned about it than as it was likely to hinder his Preaching that was his delightful Work and when he enjoyed Ease and after wasting Sickness was restor'd to some degrees of Strength he joyfully return'd to his Duty Nay when his Pains were tolerable Preaching was his best Anodyne when others fail'd And after his Preaching the reflection upon the Divine Goodness that enabled him for the discharge of the Service was a great relief of his Pains His Life was suitable to his Holy Profession His Sermons were Printed in a fair and lively Character in his Conversation He was an Example to Believers in Word in Conversation in Charity in Spirit in Faith in Purity He was of a staid Mind and temperate Passions and moderate in Counsels In the managing of Affairs of Concernment he was not vehement and confident not imposing and over-bearing but was receptive of Advice and yielding to Reason His compassionate Charity and Beneficence was very conspicuous amongst his other Graces His Heart was given to God and his relieving beneficent Hand to the living Images of God whose pressing wants he resented with tender Affections and was very instrumental for their Supplies And as his Life so his Death adorn'd the Gospel which was so exemplary to others and so gracious and comfortable to himself The Words of Men leaving the World make usually the deepest Impressions being spoken most feelingly and with least Affectation Death reveals the Secrets of Mens Hearts And the Testimony that dying Saints give how gracious a Master they have served how sweet his Service has been to their Souls has a