them in that Glory the very least and lowest Degree of which far transcends the Value of all their Labours and Sufferings There are different Degrees of Glory to be conferred upon Persons in the other World in a just Proportion to the different Measures of Personal Holiness and Publick Usefulness whereby they have signalized and distinguished themselves in this By those that are Wise some understand Religious Persons who are subject to the Instruction and Conduct of their Teachers But I shall wave this Sense and consider the Wise in the former Clause as importing the same with those that turn many to Righteousness in the latter The word here translated Wise is also rendred Teachers and Chap. 11. v. 33. both Phrases are put together as Equivalents or at least filling up the same Character They that understand among the People shall instruct many Those that make a difference between the Wise and they that turn many to Righteousness are likewise obliged to distinguish between the Brightness of the Firmament and that of the Stars whereas it is more probably one and the same Metaphorical Resemblance under a grateful Variety of Expression So that the Phrase appears to be doubled that it might be more Emphatical and the better amplifie and set forth the matter intended The Wise then are the Ministers of the Church considered as the prime Vessels in which under the Mediator the Treasures of Divine Wisdom are reposited that by them a Supply thereof may be regularly and statedly conveyed to the several parts of God's Holy Church Those that turn many to Righteousness are still the same Persons considered as Faithfully and Successfully employing the Gifts and Graces they have received To turn the Disobedient to the Wisdom of the Just 'T is not Mens being qualified with Gifts nor their being obliged by their Office and Profession to turn many to Righteousness that will entitle them to any Reward at all much less to one that is so Superlatively Excellent There must be at least when those are supposed a Sincere Desire manifesting it self in fervent and importunate Endeavours to open the Eyes of Sinners and to turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto God For should we suppose a Person devoted to the Sacred Office not only to pretend to it but to be really under God the Instrument that effects this great Work of Conversion it would avail him nothing if at last it appears that this Change was never wrought upon himself Where the Success is owing only to a Form and Appearance of Sanctity which the Minister assumed and managed with much Artifice the very Persons that such an Hypocrite hath turned to Righteousness will bear a Substantial and Irrefragable Testimony against him And on the other hand He that sincerely performs his part shall not lose his Reward whatever the Success be Though Israel be not gathered yet shall he be glorious in the Eyes of the Lord and his God shall be his strength Isa 49.5 The Promise in the Text in the letter of it doth most expresly belong to those whose Labours are succeeded with answerable Fruit but the Intent of it undoubtedly extends to all Faithful Ministers The Matter is thus ordered that we may have a more natural and ardent Breathing towards the Success of our Labours and that our Pursuits after this great End may be more Vigorous If we understand by The Wise Holy Faithful Teachers in general and by those that turn many to Righteousness the most eminently Laborious and Successful among them all that are qualified for this Reward will be included in the Letter of the Promise and this shadow of an Objection clean removed Their Shining as the Brightness of the Firmament and as the Stars c. implies That as the Luminaries in the Firmament are the greatest Ornament in the visible Heavens so are Faithful Ministers of the Intellectual World where they shall shine with incomparable Brightness in the Mansions of Glory amongst the Societies of Glorified Saints The Celestial Splendour to which they shall be advanced will exceed all earthly Glory as much as the pure Azure Sky doth this dull and dirty Clod of Earth The Glory of the Stars may be alluded unto in this place rather than that of the Sun to which this Reward is elsewhere compared upon several Accounts Christ Jesus the Son of Righteousness will ever be the chiefest Glory of the Church both whilst Militant and when Triumphant The brightest Constellation of Ministers shines but with a diminutive as well as derived Lustre in comparison of him Besides which it more aptly refers us to Multitudes of these Holy Instructors and may intimate to us that even amongst these One Star differeth from another Star in Glory This shining is said to be for ever and ever They shall not only shine in Fame and Renown through a long course of time upon Earth but in the Perfection of Light and Glory in the Heaven of Heavens for ever more The words are an entire Proposition of themselves importing thus much That all Wise and Faithful Ministers that turn many to Righteousness shall possess an eminent degree of Heavenly Glory for evermore In the Prosecution of which I shall do these three things 1. Describe the Subjects to whom these high degrees of Glory are promised 2. Demonstrate the Certainty of this Truth and unfold the Reasons why Ministers shall be so plenteously rewarded 3. I shall attempt a Manifestation of that excellent Glory in part and so far as will suit with our present Design and then apply the whole 1. The Subjects to whom these high Degrees of Glory are promised are Wise and Faithful Ministers that approve themselves to be such by turning many to Righteousness They themselves first turn to Righteousness and are thereby prepared and disposed to employ all their Abilities and Opportunities to convert others Such are not satisfied with Upbraiding and Daunting wicked Men or Shaming and Restraining them from their manifest Impieties It does not suffice them to reclaim Notorious Offenders only so far as to reduce them to a more Moral and Decent Behaviour It is natural to Faithful Ministers to endeavour the Propagation of the same Vital Principle of Holy Living and the same Union with the Lord Jesus the Head and Fountain of it which themselves believe and Experience Faithful Ministers covet most earnestly to change the very Tempers and Dispositions of Men from their natural Probity to an Holy Aptitude and Sufficiency for Gracious and Heavenly Operations They rejoyce in every Advance that is made towards the Divine Life but that Divine Life it self in Sincerity at first and afterwards in the Progress and final Consummation of it is what they press after themselves and above all things with the most assiduous Application endeavour to promote in their Hearers and People Their business is to illuminate the Minds of Men to convince their Consciences to rectifie their Judgments and perswade their Wills
to a sound and deep Repentance for their past Miscarriages to a present Reformation of what is amiss in their Hearts and Lives and to a fixed Resolution of walking with God and their Fellow-Creatures especially those of the same Holy Christian Profession in all Purity 'T is to make Men impartially and universally Good Pious towards God Just and Charitable towards their Neighbours Sober Chast and Humble in their whole Deportment 'T is to render them Useful and Exemplary in their particular Stations and by all this to make Men Blessings to themselves the Church and the World that having Served and Honoured the God that made and redeemed them in this their Pilgrimage they may arrive in his due time at the fullness of Joy which is in the Presence of God and the Pleasures for evermore which are at his right hand Nor is it their Business only to inform Persons of the Necessity of a Personal Inherent Righteousness but also to acquaint them with the Person the Offices and Righteousness of the Mediater the Lord Jesus Christ God blessed for ever On the account whereof and for whose sake all their Sins are pardoned and their Sincere though Imperfect Performances shall be accepted their Persons justified and their Souls and Bodies eternally Saved The means whereby they carry on this great Work are principally Holy and Powerful Preaching of God's Blessed Word and the Exemplary Innocency and Purity of their Lives together with their Patient and Constant Suffering of Reproach and Perfecution when called to it for the Vindication of those Truths which they preach profess and practise If by these and all other instituted means they prove instrumental through the Co-operation and principal Efficiency of the Holy Ghost to turn one Soul to Righteousness it is matter of greater Joy to them than all other Acquests could be But there is not a Faithful Minister in the Church of God that desires not above all things to gain many and many Souls to Christ whatever the Foolish World think of it or may make it cost them for so doing Every such Minister would be glad to have that fulfilled in himself which is prophesied of John Baptist Luke 1.16 And many of the Children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God Converting Sinners being the first and great Work of a Minister is here put for all that is subsequent upon it They are also careful to preserve and perfect the Work of Grace in the Souls that are turned to Righteousness by them 2. The next Particular I am to account for is to clear the Certainty of this Truth and to unfold the Reasons of God's proceeding in this manner with his Faithful Ministers The Certainty of it is evident both from this and other places of Scripture They shall shine c. They are qualified for and have a Right to an Extraordinary Reward in Heaven a more bright and massy Crown of Glory than others must expect This is and ever hath been the Priviledge of Ministers under all God's Dispensations to the Church by vertue of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Grace And as all such Rights are now already ratified above so by the Constitution of that glorious Kingdom all that die possest of them shall be solemnly invested with and admitted to their proper and peculiar Rewards immediately upon their Dissolution The Holy Angels themselves will assist at their Inthronization and the whole Heavenly Host will chearfully joyn their Applauses to it To this Consideration we may in part ascribe it that Heaven it self is stiled Abraham's Bosom Luke 16.22 And that the sitting down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven Matt. 8.11 is an Expression setting forth the Felicity of that State as if it were the presence of such prime Ministers that made and must therefore denominate and describe the Glory of it Hence it is that Twelve Thrones are promised to the Twelve Apostles Matt. 19.28 and their names inscribed on the Twelve Foundations of the New Jerusalem Rev. 21.14 And as this proves the Apostles dignified above others not only Christians but Ministers so it genuinely infers that those who succeed them in the Office of the Gospel-Ministry and in the Fidelity and Diligence wherewith they discharged that Holy Function shall be joyned with them in the Participation of an extraordinary Bliss But most clearly is this distinction laid down in that Promise of our Saviour He that receiveth a Prophet c. Matt. 10.41 where the Rewards of a Prophet and of a Righteous Man are as clearly distinguished as their Persons and Stations And as it would be too bold a Restriction to confine either of them to this mortal State so there can be no doubt but the difference lies in the Excellency of that which is first mentioned above the other Thus it appears that Faithful Ministers shall enjoy an eminent Reward in Glory from the Tenour of Holy Writ But because all the Works of God carry the Signatures and Impressions of his infinite Rectitude upon them and are Harmonious and conform both to his Perfections and to each other I shall further endeavour to shew the Wisdom and Justice of the Divine Proceedings in this case And first we may note in the general that nothing is more becoming the Wisdom and Justice of Almighty God than to dispense Rewards agreeably to the Meetness and Capacity of the Receivers Now the turning of many to Righteousness is a Work of such Heroical Virtue that it is highly rewardable in it self and more pleasing to him to whom the Dispensation of the future Glory belongs than any other Service whatsoever Therefore though there be no Merit of Equivalence in the Work that might claim a Reward in the way of commutative Justice yet it is greatly expedient to the Ends of Divine Government that such a Reward should be propounded and promised to and expected by Faithful Ministers and if so it must certainly be just that it should be conferred on them That the Service we are speaking of is so highly rewardable will appear from this Consideration Besides its being an Act of Obedience to God and the Mediator which it partakes in common with all other Acts of Evangelical obedience and Duty to make it rewardable it obtains a vast Preheminence of all others in regard of its Intrinsick Excellency its grand and universal Importance and the amazing and almost insuperable Difficulties that attend it than which there can scarce be more proper Qualities thought of to recommend any Service or to render a Person the meetest and most capable Subject of a Glorious Retribution Reason 1. That this is a Work of great Excellency and Worth in it self appears from many Considerations First The Endowments and Qualifications which it supposes and requires What Knowledge of the Mysteries of Religion what Acquaintance with the Deceits of Mens Hearts and the Wiles of the Devil what a firm Belief of Divine Revelation are indispensably required to constitute
the more Ravishing the Delight that accompanies it He that does good to the Bodies of others finds a secret Exalting upon it in his own Breast and is ready to confess that he hath more obliged himself by becoming a Benefactor than those to whom he was so and that it is more Blessed to give than to receive Acts 20.35 It is not only the more honourable Station and Office amongst Men but hath more of a God-like Grandeur and Felicity in it How much greater cause have they to rejoyce who do good to the Souls of Men by delivering them from the most Savage and Merciless Tyranny of the Devil and their own wicked Lusts whose Vassals they have been and bringing them into the glorious liberty of the Children of God Thus turning Souls to Righteousness is its own Reward because it includes the doing of the greatest good to Mankind to which all other good Works are but remotely subservient This may be lookt upon as an earnest and fore-tast of that surpassing Glory and Happiness which is here promised And so I shall close the Doctrinal part of this Discourse It remains that we make the best Practical Improvement of which the matter is capable which surely is very great 1. I would humbly offer to my Reverend Fathers and Brethren in the Ministry the clear Indications which the Text gives 1. Of our Work 2. Of our Reward And thence I would infer Directions to guide us in and Motives to quicken us to the Performance of the Duty that we may not fall short of the Reward 1. We see our Work It is not what many Ministers aim at and busie themselves about and what we are all apt enough to affect 'T is not I mean that we may gain Applause from the Populace or even from the Learned World not to flourish in Riches or in Pomp and Splendour not to intrigue till we obtain a Dominion over our Brethren not to Lord it over God's Heritage not to live in ease and fullness whatever becomes of our Work and Charge Much less is it to please Men to their own unspeakable Prejudice by favouring them in their evil Courses and nourishing the Lusts that will prey upon them for ever Such ends as these are only fit for the Ministers of Satan and those that serve the God of this World to seek and labour after They are as repugnant to the Sacred Office as they are inconsistent with Sincere Piety The true and proper end of the Ministry as instituted of God and embraced and exercised by every Serious Christian duly called and separated to it is to turn many to Righteousness Other Subordinate ends we may lawfully propose to our selves but they must be no further sought than they are truly reconcilable with the Management of our Ministerial Work in the most effectual manner So that if it should become necessary thereto we ought to forego all external Priviledges and Emoluments rather than renounce or frustrate it Whatever Men account Wisdom now there will come a time when that Scripture shall take place Prov. 11.30 He that winneth Souls is wise He will be found to have employed his Time and Talents to the best Advantage for his own Comfort the Glory of God and the common Good of the World which is the heighth of Wisdom that gaineth Souls which otherwise had perished eternally All Proud Sloathful Sensual Worldly Ministers that have gained no Souls to Christ but perhaps hardned them in their Impieties shall one day wish that they had chosen the meanest and basest the most servile and loborious Calling that could be found rather than this Holy and Honourable Office 2. We see our Encouragement It 's an eminent Degree of eternal Glory All our precious Light and Influence which we shed on others during our momentary Labours upon Earth will return to us again and ennoble us for ever in Heaven How Poor and Contemptible is all the Tinselbravery of Popes and Cardinals of Prelates and Princes in comparison of this excellent Glory This shall be Verdant and Flourishing when theirs is laid in the Dust 'T is a hard thing to be a good Minister but then it is a blessed thing to shine in Glory for ever Let us then apply our selves to the Work of the Ministry as those that design above all things to promote the Salvation of many by turning them to Righteousness We know that without Holiness none shall see the Lord we know that Men are begotten again to a lively hope ordinarily by the Preaching of the Gospel we know that if Men perish through our Neglect their Blood will be required of us we know also that God worketh ordinarily according to the Suitableness of the Means and that there is much Duty incumbent on us to fit our Endeavours to the end we would attain by them First then Let this guide us in our Studies and Preaching He is not the best Preacher that makes the loudest Noise nor yet he that makes the finest Flourish and garnishes each Period with the Flowers of Rhetorick nor he that ostentatiously abounds with needless Subtilties and strives to shew all the Learning he has whether the Subject require it or no. Such preach themselves really while they profess to set forth Jesus Christ to the People Those that would turn many to Righteousness must choose to treat upon Subjects which their Auditors most needs in a clear convincing manner with Gravity and Seriousness They must feel the Power of those Truths upon their own Souls which they would impress upon others Men of high Parts must deny themselves if need be for the good of others by condescending to the meanest Capacities They must not think it below them to use familiar and plain Expressions where those will serve best to convey a clear Idea of the Truths of God to the Hearers Those whose Gifts are more slender must double their Diligence that they may not fall too much below the Dignity of the Subjects they treat and thereby render themselves Contemptible to the more Understanding and able sort of Christians or to the more curious part of the Auditory 2. This should guide us in our Prayers for our People and our Conversations with them How earnest should we be with God for some Fruit that might abound to our account How careful should we be not to admit any Scandalous Levity into our own carriage nor to give countenance to it in others with whom we converse We are doubly separated from the World as Christians and as Ministers and there is a general Expectation that our Carriage be doubly strict and refined even from those Freedoms which are more allowable in Persons of a different Character If God shall help us to demean our selves with Wisdom Sobriety and Godliness our Conversations will doubtless conciliate a Reverence for our Persons and Labours besides the direct Influence they will have upon the Minds of those that are no further acquainted with us If the design of