we are of him 5. It informs us what an honourable work the work of the Gospel is 'T is so both in its self and with relation to its Author its Object and its Ends How contemptible soever it be in the eyes of some and how unworthy and vile soever some of those are that are admitted or thrust themselves into it to the reproach of it 'T is not only a Work but an Office and an Office of the highest dignity on the account of its Author the LORD Jesus Christ who is exalted above all Principalities and Powers and hath a Name above every Name The LORD of Lords the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only wise God and unto whom every Knee shall bow No man taketh this honour unto himself but he that is called of God 'T is an Honour too great for any but God to bestow an Honour more immediately deriv'd from the Everlasting Fountain of Honour than any other Office in the World On the account of its Object the Mystical Flock and spiritual Kingdom of Christ the Noble Family and Houshold of God Ministers are Christ's Embassadors not Pages nor Porters though that were an honour but his Embassadors and Representatives 2 Cor. 5.20 The Stewards of his House 1 Cor. 4.1 The Angels of the Churches Rev. 1.20 He hath put his own Honour upon them and hath told the Word That what is done to them he takes as done to himself and hath required his Churches to honour them for his and for their Work sake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let them be accounted worthy or let them be dignified with double honour The honour of respect and maintenance is due to all that are faithful but a double or greater degree of honour and authority to those that are best qualify'd for and most laborious in their Work Where by the way you may take notice that Ministers do not live as perhaps some are ready to think and to upbraid them too on the Peoples Alms. Their maintenance is of God's allowance and precept Non Eleemosinae sed Honoraria not Alms but Rewards by Divine Right due to them I say Divine Right in genere though not in specie But of this I would not now have once opened my lips but for your sakes who are the people that no guilt of this kind may rest on any of you and that you may not have any unbecoming thoughts of us on this account Lastly it is honourable too on the account of its ends The conversion edification and salvation of Immortal souls The destroying the Works of the Devil in the World and the pulling down his strong holds the repairing the ruins of mankind by the Fall and the restoring the Image of their Maker upon them the negotiating the grand Affairs of a Peace between God and man and of all the concerns of the Kingdom of the Mediator upon Earth the highest trust that ever was committed to meer Creatures The great Work and Design which the God of Heaven hath espoused to glorify all his Attributes in and which the Son of God was sent into this lower World for What are Earthly Kingdoms and Dominions and Interests to this this is that swallows up all Sirs 'T is not without regret that we should be compell'd as Paul once was To magnify our Office and to become fools in glorying 2 Cor 12.11 'T is an honour that we acknowledge our selves infinitely unworthy of yet it is the honour that our God hath put upon us both for his own and for your sakes 6. It informs us what a Burthensom Work the Ministry is Burthensom not only in respect of the Labour of it wherein if that faithfulness and diligence be used as is necessary and required it is the heaviest of all Employments in the World and that which spends the strength both of Body and Spirit more than any other 'T is true there are too many that live idly and work easily enough in this Laborious Calling whose praise is not great in the Churches and whose comfort is not like to abound in the day of account but those that love their Master and their Work and are duly sensible of their Charge can find little time to be Idle Alas Sirs what you see and hear of our Pulpit Work is or should be the least part of our Labour Besides it is a burthensom Work in respect of the many Temptations Oppositions and Discouragements that attend it both from the World the Flesh and the Devil God knows we are the best of us men and but men subject to like Passions as others are We that teach others must teach our selves We that carry the Light before you have as much need of the Light as you Not as though we had already attained or were already perfect Phil. 3.12 The boldest Officer is in himself no more shot-free than the Common Soldier though his dangers may be greater Pity us then and pray for us when you see a Temptation too strong for us We are more the Butt of the Dragon's Envy and the Mark that his Rage aims at than you which makes our Post by so much the more difficult Again It is a burthensom Work in respect of the unsuccessfulness of it neither is this the least part of our Burthen How very gladly would we spend and be spent in the Service of our dear Flocks We would not think the labour of our Brains or Breasts our Studies or Watchings our Travels or Cares our Reproaches or Sufferings no nor our blood too much for them could we but be comforted by them with the good success of all this But when after all our pains and adventures and Prayers and Tears we see so little of the good Fruit we long for so little Humility so little Charity so little Self-denyal so little Mortification to the World so little regular and discreet Zeal for God this is that breaks our hearts and makes us to walk heavily Lastly It is a burthensom Work in respect of the consequence of it both to our hearers and to our selves To our hearers Their Souls and Eternal Happiness and what have they dearer what have they more is bound up in this burthen To our selves O the tremendous Charge not only of our own but of our Peoples souls and the Account that will shortly be required of us when the time is come that is at hand that we may be no longer Stewards The serious consideration of this is astonishing O that it may now be awakning Well might the Apostle cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who is sufficient for these things 7. It shews us the Sin and danger of intruders into this Office 'T is dangerous both to themselves and to the Flock To themselves in respect of their Usurpation which is highly Sacrilegious in respect of their Ends which are wont to be base vain-glorious and selfish and in respect of the Account they must at last give for the blood of souls which will be dreadful and
that are between them And now Sirs you see here 's a Foundation for a much larger Discourse than time or strength will at present bear I shall contract my self into as narrow a Circle as I am able that I may not too far transgress the Bounds assigned me CAP. II. The Doctrinal Proposition Stated and Cleared THIS practical Text appears to be very pregnant of practical Doctrine which might be distributed into several Branches But he that studies brevity must avoid all unnecessary division I shall offer but these three Proposition I. That Believers are Christs own mystical Flock and He their great Shepherd Prop. II. That the Ministers of the Gospel are they to whom the LORD Jesus Christ hath committed the Care and Rule of this his mystical Flock Prop. III. That a Ministers want of Care and Concern for the Flock of Christ is an indication of the want of Love to Christ himself Either of these singly would fill up more time than is allotted me for this Action The second Proposition is that wherein the stream of the Text seems to run and unto which both the other will without forcing come in to its Improvement Wherefore I shall lay down this for the Basis and Bound of my following Discourse That the Ministers of the Gospel are they to whom the LORD Jesus Christ hath committed the Care and Rule of his Mystical Flock In the Prosecution of this Truth I shall briefly answer these four Questions 1. What this Flock is concerning which this charge is given or who they are whom our LORD would have us to understand by His Lambs and His Sheep 2. Why these Names of Lambs and Sheep are given them 3. Who the Ministers of the Gospel are with whom this charge is left 4. What the Duty is that is required of them or what our dear LORD and Master would have us to understand by Feeding them And then shall conclude all with some useful Inferences both to Ministers and People Quest 1. What this Flock is concerning which this Charge is given or whom our LORD would have us to understand by His Lambs and His Sheep Sol. The Question needs not many words The general sense of this common Scriptural Metaphor is obvious But that which makes the question is that distinguishing if it be here a distinguishing Relative My Sheep Mat. 25.32 33. We have there all the World divided into two sorts Sheep and Goats i. e. Believers and Unbelievers Wherefore by Sheep in that Scripture and with whom the Lambs are also included being oppos'd to the Goats we may understand no other than true Believers The sound and sincere part of Professors which is no larger than the Church Invisible These indeed are His Sheep in the most proper and peculiar sense But that the Word in the Text must not be so restrain'd is certain because our Commission would then be unintelligible and lose its ends it being impossible for us to be assur'd who are the Sheep and who the Goats till the Judgment of the Great Day determine and reveal it Who then are My Lambs and My Sheep If I may expound my Text by that of Matth. 28.19 the question will well-nigh be answered Go ye therefore and teach all Nations That Teaching here is the same with Feeding in the Text I suppose will be granted All Nations i. e. those of all and of any Nation that are willing to receive the Gospel and to be taught by you And that all Nations are His both as Creator and Redeemer I hope will not be denied But then how are all Nations call'd His Sheep and His Lambs I have already said that all Nations are those of the Nations that would receive the Gospel of which sort Christ hath had some in all Nations Besides many of those that are not actually his Sheep are Potentially and Electively so The extent of the Commission and Command seems to run thus Feed all those both Young and Old that will be fed by you of what Nation or Countrey or Place soever they be that those that are not yet actually my Sheep may be made so and then cared and provided for as such This is the general Call of the Gospel If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink Joh. 7.37 And him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out Joh. 6.37 All that will may and must be fed But yet not all alike As there are Babes and Strong Men in Gods House so there is Milk and stronger Meat that which will cherish one will choak another All Ordinances may not be indifferently administred unto all In the Old Temple there was the Inner and the Outer Court so there is in the New But this being a matter of Order and Discipline may be recogniz'd in a more proper place This little may now be enough to be said on this first question Quest 2. Why are these names of Lambs and Sheep given them Sol. We find 't is a Metaphor that the Spirit of God in Scripture delights much in Were it expedient 't were easie enough to illustrate the Analogy in many particulars But that it becomes not the present occasion I shall but suggest these two general Reasons 1. To mind us what we are of our selves 2. To teach us what we should be 1. To mind us what we are of our selves The Sheep as one observes is of all Cattel the most silly Franz Histor Animal Sacr. Fearful Weak and Unprovided for self-defence none so subject to Diseases and to be Infected of one another Nor any other Creature more apt to go astray or so unapt to return without the help and care of the Shepherd No other kind of perfect Animal so unable to subsist and to preserve it's Species in the Earth without the care and conduct of Man as is the poor Sheep therefore no other Metaphor more proper to express the Nature and Condition of the Church of Christ in the World by which without the Wisdom Power Providence Faithfulness Love and All-sufficiency of our Heavenly Shepherd the LORD Jesus Christ must inevitably and eternally perish 2. 'T is to teach us what we should be The Sheep you know is that Creature which was of old in a more especial manner dedicated to God and offered to him in Sacrifice and made a Type of Christ our great Propitiatory Sacrifice The first Offering to the LORD that we find honour'd with his Acceptance was that of Abel of the Firstlings of his Flock Gen. 4.4 Besides the Sheep is a Creature not only Ceremonially clean but is naturally cleanly and delights not in the Mire and Dirt as the Sow 'T is a Meek Innocent Patient Creature and us'd as a common Emblem of Patience 'T is one of the most profitable of Cattel of which there is nothing but is one way or other useful to all the purposes of humane Life And which is very remarkable they have a natural Instinct of vehement Love and Regard for
very honourable to him whose Servant he pretends to be especially considering that they could not but know and foresee how tender all Men naturally are in the matters of Honour and Maintenance and of what mischievous consequence the leaving such a Question as this in the dark and undetermined would be That it would involve the Church in endless strifes and quarrels and confusions But will the Lay-Elder lay his Claim to a Maintenance from that word in the Text viz. double Honour taking it for the Honour of Maintenance Let him then read on the next verse there For the Scripture saith Thou shalt not muzzle the Oxe that treadeth out the Corn And the labourer is worthy of his reward The first of these Scriptures you have Deut. 25.4 which the Apostle makes use of 1 Cor. 9.9 And you may see how he there applies it only to the Ministers of the Gospel Those that sow unto the People spiritual things v. 11. That minister about holy things and wait at the Altar v. 13. The other Scripture you have Matth. 10.10 The work-man is worthy of his meat Which are Christ's own words to the Twelve when he sent them forth to Preach the Gospel Here 's never a word of the Ruling Elder in all this nor any provision made for him And this one thing is enough to clear the sense of the precedent verse that there is no such thing as the Ruling Non Preaching Elder intended in it but the double Honour is for those that tread out the Corn and labour in the LORD's Harvest in Word and Doctrine And these are the only Persons spoken of in that 1 Tim. 5.17 So then The Rulers of the People are their Pastors who are to Rule every one over his own particular Flock or Congregation in the things of God and of their Souls who for the ease of their Government and the advantage of their Ministerial work have warrant from Scripture to ordain and appoint Deacons under them and other necessary servile Officers who derive their power immediately from their Pastor are accountable to him and may and ought to be despos'd by him in case of Male-administration as every Captain in an Army Every Mayor in a Corporation every Master in a Family have the proper power over their own Companies Burroughs and Families and all the inferiour Officers in them to dispose and govern them for their good according to the known and common Laws of that Superiour Government under which they live and unto which they themselves are accountable 2. The Rulers of the Pastors or Officers of the Church I am very apprehensive that this is a tender Point wherein I even tremble to think that I must be either sinfully silent or declare my dissent from so many of my dear Brethren whom I know to be otherwise Orthodox Learned Pious and with whom I dare not compare my self But I have said and O that daisy and doleful Experience did not proclaim it to the World to the grief of some and the shame of others that there is no Company or Society of Men in the World that have more need of the strictest Government than the Men of our Function without which we are of all Mankind in this respect the most miserable and the poor Church of Christ in the forelornest case of any of God's Creatures upon Earth But certainly he that hath so provided for the Government of the Kingdoms of the World hath not left his own mystical Kingdom wherein so much of his special interest lies without such a Government as is every way adequate to all the parts and concerns of it He that hath taken such care to inclose and fence out the wild Commons of the World hath not design'd to leave his own Garden uninclos'd Nor his Vineyard without a Hedge about it and a Wine-press and a Tower in it How weak and insatisfactory is this to say that we are all the Ministers of Jesus Christ and Brethren to one another that we have our Commission as Ministers of the Gospel from him tho' not immediately from him which indeed if it were so would alter the case who is the Supream Legislator That we have our Bibles in our hands and therein the unalterable Rules of our administration both in Doctrine Worship and Discipline the Laws by which we are to Govern both our selves and the Churches that we have the promise of the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth and an Unction from the Holy One and know all things that our Office and Work is Sacred and Divine of God and not of Men alas will all this make us Infallible or Absolute and Independent exempt from all Laws and Bonds of an Ecclesiastical Polity were we made the Ministers of Christ to rule and not to be rul'd O that men would consider the dismal consequents of such an Hypothesis which I delight not now to aggravate But if there must be a Government among Pastors consider'd as a distinct Body from the People then it will be said there cannot be an equality the Notion of Co-ordination of Pastors and Churches is subverted this being inconsistent with Government But let wise Men consider what that is that must needs lye at the bottom of this Levelling Principle And yet Government doth not destroy the Equality and Co-ordination of Pastors or Churches as such or per se but only secundum quid or in respect of Order e. g. All the Captains in an Army as Captains are equal so are all the Collonels and all the other Officers that are of one and the same Order but between a Captain and a Collonel there is an inequality And as it is in a well Regimented Army so it is in the Church of Christ which is as an Army with Banners Cant 6.10 And 't is supposed too that this subordination of Pastors and Churches will conclude a necessity of a Supream Papal Head and Governour This I take to be the great stumbling-block the plain sense whereof is but this That if every Minister be not allowed to be a Pope over his own Congregation then there must be one Pope over all the Congregations and Pastors in the Christian World Both which extreams are equally wide from the Truth and perhaps equally pernicious to the Church But to defend the Truth from both the Horns of this Dilemma we will examine what is the true Scripture notions of a Church We find in Scripture that the Churches which the Apostles planted are reckoned by the great Towns or Cities which they chose to begin to gather their Churches in as appears both by the names that are given them and by comparing Act. 14.23 with Tit. 1.5 where the ordinary Elders in every Church is the same with Ordaining Elders in every City Neither do we find any Organical Church of the Apostles founding any where mention'd in the New Testament but it bears the name of the Town or City in which it was besides those Domestick Churches of
their conditions in the World Though all that looks like partiality be not so Prudence directing and that with warrant from Scripture to make a difference and not to use the same Measures with one as with another yet the selfish Spirit of Envy Censoriousness and Ignorance that is in the World is always ready to take offence where there is none given It concerns us therefore that with holy watchfulness and unbyassed resolution abandoning all base Respects and private Interests we so comport our selves in all cases and towards all persons as that our hearts may have no cause to reproach us so long as we live 2. Experimentally and Practically Thou that teachest another teachest thou not thy self Our Sermons in their most pressing and practical Applications should be first and especially Preacht to our own hearts that from the heart they may warmly reach the hearts of our Hearers Like good Nurses we should first taste and chew the Meats that we feed our Children with 'T is shameful and dreadful for one that is called a Minister of Christ to be able to speak of Spiritual things only by hear-say or by Books Every Scribe which is instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is an housholder which bringeth forth out of his Treasure things new and old Matth. 13.52 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the good Treasure or Treasury of the heart as cap. 12.35 A Jewel in the head and Poison in the heart is worse than a Toad in God's Eye Turpe est doctori c. The Ministers of Christ must be Ensamples to the Flock 1 Pet. 5.3 And wherein In Word in Conversation in Charity in Spirit in Faith in Purity 1 Tim. 4.12 Their Lives must teach as well as their Lips They must Lead as well as give the Word of Command that they may be able to say Be ye followers of us as we are also of Christ 3. Prudently The imprudent management of a Trust is one way of betraying it Those that live in a Subtil and Serpentine Age had need to be wise as Serpents Who then is a faithful and wise Servant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 24.45 Where these Qualifications are well met they make the happiest conjunction in the Heavens of the Church A Man may be learned and yet not prudent witty and yet not wise honest and yet not discreet good Scholars and yet no good Pilots zealous but not according to knowledge 'T is pity that Christian Prudence should be abused that so noble and generous a Virtue should be enslav'd and degenerate into Vice or that which is so eminently useful and absolutely necessary should get an ill name But tho' it do indeed too often deserve to be so censured yet it is apparent enough that those that have the least share of it are the most forward and the most unreasonable in their uncharitable Censures 'T is as natural and common for the weak who are worst able and have least reason to Judge as it is for the strong to Despise It concerns us then to be very wary that we steer aright between the two Extreams in this case Let our Prudence be founded in an holy Integrity and exercised with due regard to the Rules of Charity and then we need not value the Censures of Men nor fear any just Censures of Conscience 4. Diligently An Office of great Trust and Importance requires great diligence Where there are many Enemies there must be the more watching No Office in the World is of like importance to this Are Princes God's Vicegerents upon Earth the Representatives and Upholders of his Authority amongst Men It is but in Temporalibus circa Sacra The Faithful Ministers of Christ are his Ambassadors represent his Person and execute his Office in the concerns of an higher nature Better there were neither Princes nor People nor Sun nor Moon nor Stars nor Visible Heavens nor Earth than that there should be no Gospel Preacht to fallen Man no way of Salvation opened by and thro' a Saviour and no Means discovered of escaping the Miseries and obtaining the Happiness of that Eternal State in the next Life Better no Temporal Kingdom of Men than no Spiritual Kingdom of Christ in the World Nor is there any other Office or Interest in the World that hath such and so many Enemies That Spirit of Malignity which was breathed from Hell thro' that crooked Serpent in Paradise hath leavened the whole Mass of Mankind and is still working in the Children of Disobedience The Dragon and his Angels are engaged in this War Enemies that never slumber nor sleep that never tire nor desert The Earth is full and the Air is full yea not only the Heathen World but the Church it self is full of these Enemies And more ways they have to make their Assaults and to prosecute their Destructive Counsels visibly and invisibly by force and by fraud than it is easie to enumerate or to discover And alas what are we in opposition to such an Enemy but as Israel before the Syrians like two little Flocks of Kids but the Syrians filled the Countrey 1 King 20.27 How many ways might I easily enlarge on the greatness of this Importance But I will not pretend to instruct my Instructers Where the Enemies are mighty and many and vigilant the strength or stratagems to oppose them small the time short the consequence everlasting and the loss irrepairable there is need of Diligence 5. Couragiously The Ministry is a Warfare a Service of hardships and hazards Courage becomes a Souldier much more an Officer The Coward is not far from a Traitor They are commonly principl'd alike and there is but the odds of a Temptation between the one and the other Courage is the Life of a Souldier and one of the surest Pledges of Victory When God sent forth his Servant Joshua and gave him a Commission to lead his People over Jordan to their promised Possession though he had assured him of his special Presence with him yet knowing what is in the heart of the best of Men he saw it needful to inculcate this Charge on him no less than three times in one short Speech Josh 1.6 Be strong and of a good Courage Only be thou strong and very couragious Vers 7. Have not I commanded thee Be strong and of a good Courage be not afraid Vers 9. This may serve to caution us both of giving way to our own fears and of presuming on our own strength Bold Peter was as easily overcome as one of a more dastardly spirit could have been My Dear Brethren I know I need not read you a Lecture of Christians Courage You have seen the high and terrible hand wherewith our God hath led us these thirty years thro' many Temptations and Tryals of Affliction that have befallen us in this Wilderness We will not spit on God's Rod now nor aggravate our past Sufferings to the reproach of the guiltiest of Instruments but will here
set up to the LORD our Eben-ezer who hath hitherto helped us And from the times that have passed over us let us receive instruction for whatsoever doth yet abide us 'T is necessary that our Faith and Patience have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their perfect work their perfecting and crowning work O let not the present Calm effeminate our Courage nor transport it to any wrathful Indecencies but let us press on with our Loyns always girt in the way of our duty if the will of God be so prepared with an unshaken resolution for hotter Services and sorer Tryals than yet we have been called unto 6. Compassionately O Sirs what Object is there in the World that so cries for our pity and help as the wretched Soul that is perishing by his own hands That is ready to starve and die eternally for want of Bread That is blind and running on ignorantly and presumptuously on everlasting destruction and sporting with his own damnation That is caught in the snares of the Devil and cannot escape Or that is held on the torturing Rack of a self-condemning Conscience That is plung'd in the amazing Horrours of Despair and would give all the World for one glimpse of hope whose groans and complaints are able to break an heart of Flint And is it not with such as these that we have to do Are not the most of Men in one or other of these Extreams either sensless or raving too confident or too diffident Are not such as these to be pitied How can our bowels but be in pain for them Have we our selves had the experience of such a case and can we make light of it Yea the Relation wherein we stand towards them calls for our compassion as we are their Fathers their Nurses their Shepherds their Physicians And what a pattern of Compassion have we in our dearest LORD and Master wherein it is our Duty and Glory to imitate him as Paul did Phil. 1.8 For God is my record how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ The less of Compassion the more like the Devil 7. Patiently We are hence called of God as Souldiers to militate in the Kingdom and Patience of Jesus Christ and we must expect to endure hardness as our LORD for our sakes and for our Example hath done before us No sort of Men in the World have more need of Patience than we and that not only with relation to them without but to them within From those without what scorn and contempt what slanders and reproaches what envy and opposition what plottings and persecutions and railing and rage must we look for How hard and how long must we labour to recover one dead Soul to life What difficulties must we break thro' to rescue one poor Sheep out of the Dens of the Thieves or of the Beasts of Prey O what need have we of Patience to deal with blind proud graceless hardened Sinners Would we give the World the Journals of our Warfare we might produce a Piece of the same kind with that of the Apostle 2 Cor. 11.23 c. But besides those things that are without that which cometh unto us daily the Care of the Churches committed of God to us How many weak ones how many froward passionate selfish luke-warm and disorderly ones have we to exercise our Patience with When God's time was come according to his Promise to lead that froward murmuring unstable People out of Egypt he chose one of the meekest and patientest Men then upon Earth to do it Numb 12.3 Is not this one of the most glorious and useful Pieces of our Spiritual Panoply both as Christians and as Ministers Which is given us in particular Charge 1 Tim. 6.11 Titus 2.2 And which we should keep bright by daily exercise O what sad work shall we make if Impatience once get the Reins of us And hath not long Experience to our sorrow tought us that whatever the provocations be fretting and storming and passionate youthful heats or capricious repartees are a poor kind of revenge and as unsuccessful as it is an irrational way to help it A man's prevailing Passion is his weakness which if one have charity for himself he will be careful to suppress and conceal much less should he that is a Teacher of others defile the Pulpit with the proclamation of it 8. Lastly Perseveringly He that hath put his hand to God's Plow must not look back Tho the work be hard and painful the difficulties great the discouragements many yet we must hold up and hold on and hold out knowing that we shall reap in due season if we faint not We unto whom this sacred Office is according to Scripture Order committed have our Ears bored to the Posts of God's Sanctuary for service durante vitâ nor can any Creature or Authority upon Earth legally dissolve this Bond or supersede this Commission unless it be in case of a Criminal forfeiture as was that of Abiathar 1 Kings 2.26 27. or of a Natural or Moral Incapacity of discharging the Duties and answering the Ends of the Office The Reason is plain because the Office and Commission is primarily and fundamentally from God and not from man Neither may any one that is lawfully called to and invested with it voluntarily desert or alienate himself from it without the dreadful guilt of Sacrilege Apostacy and Perjury A dispensation of the Gospel is committed unto me says St. Paul and a necessity is thereby laid upon me therefore Wo unto me if I preach not the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.16 17. As for any particular Exceptions in some rare and extraordinary cases * See Mr. G. T. Pastor's Care and Dig. p. 14. Wherein it may be lawful for a man to lay aside his Ministerial Function I shall not here mention nor shall I now examine how far and in what cases it is both lawful prudential and expedient for the Churches peace and safety to give way to the torrent of a Tide and for a season to suspend the ordinary acts and exercise of the Ministry which is a case that hath been and for ought we know or for ought we have at God's hands deserved may again be But I shall wave this Question unless I were particularly call'd to it and shall conclude this Chapter with the Sixth Petition of our LORD's Prayer Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. V. The Second Part of the Pastor's Charge viz. To govern and rule The Flock 2. THE other and indeed the more difficult and obnoxious part of our Ministerial Work is to rule to exercise the Authority that is given us of the Lord as Shepherds over his Flock This was what I had neither time nor mind to discourse of in the Pulpit and should now dismiss it with the same brevity and general hints being conscious of my own weakness and apprehensive of the use that some are like to make of what I must