To Ministers and that on a double account 1. In that God hath accounted us faithful and put us into the Ministry and called us unto this Heavenly work than which there is none greater none sweeter in the World That he hath taken us so near to him and entrusted us with the Bread of his Family the care of his Children and all the precious Jewels of his House the unsearchable Riches of Christ O what an honour is this that poor despised unworthy we should be called not the Sons of God only but the Stewards the Ambassadours the Angels of the Most High that we should be taken into so near a relation to him made the keepers of his Counsels his Treasurers his Oratours and Intercessours the deputed Governours of his Spiritual Kingdom in the World Behold what manner of love is this what a happiness what a Priviledge is it There are some of us who for ought we know had never been sincerely and savingly serious had not our Holy Calling given us the blessed occasion How had we been buried in the dirty business and cares and snares of the World had not the LORD set his merciful eye upon us and chosen us to walk with him What were we better than the rest of Mankind what hath he foreseen in any of us that he should make this difference Blessed be Christ Jesus our dear LORD for this Be it hard yet 't is happy work I had rather be a Door-Keeper in the House of my God than to dwell in the Tents of wickedness rather a Porter there than a Potentate in the Earth The Church is Gods lower Heaven as contemptible as it is in the eyes of blind and prejudiced Men and the lowest place in this Heaven is on many accounts preferrable to the highest Worldly Seats among the Children of Men. 2. Hath our LORD and Master taken care for his Lambs and for his Sheep and will he not also care for us Must we feed his Flock and will not He feed us Hath he not done it for these 30 years more and that beyond what we had any visible grounds to have hoped When I sent you without Purse and Scrip and Shoes lacked ye any thing Luke 22.35 When there were so few that would adventure to know us and fewer that could relieve us did we want our daily Bread Tho' our Tables were not spread as once they had been yet were they ever sweeter to us than then In our Exilements in our Prisons was not our God with us still When we were walking thro' the valley of the Shadow of death did not his Rod and his Staff comfort us yea when was it better with us than when we had least of the World and after all this sensible experience shall we not trust him Fear not he that will have his Sheep fed will not have his Shepherds starved The World hath seen the effect of our Water and Pulse let them still see that we can be content with a little that we have not taught the Doctrine of contentment to others further than we are willing to practice it our selves And O that nothing that hath the appearance of a covetous or ambitious humour may ever be found any more in any of us Let our Masters work be our grand concern and then we know we have reason to trust him for all these little things 3. To the People With what confidence of Faith and gladness of heart may you even in this Wilderness sing David's Psal 23. The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want The Charge here given in my Text was and is intended to run parallel with all succeeding ages As long as Christ hath a Flock in the World he will find or make those that shall feed it Let the Enemy show his skill and the gates of hell do their worst there 's never a soul of Christ's purchasing shall perish He would not have bid you to pray the Lord of the Harvest to send forth Labourers into his Harvest had he not a mind to answer those Prayers Only remember he that hath taught and encourag'd you so to pray expects that you shall second your Prayers with your best Endeavours You may not hope that God shall send you Labourers our of Heaven at free cost but your hands must evidence the good agreement between your hearts and lips in these your Prayers 'T is for the Elects sake that the World continues to this day and while God hath a world here he will have a people in it and unto whom he will always provide those that shall break the bread of Life tho he may and somtimes sees it good to distress yet will he never desert them He may free 'em but will never forsake them never forget them Comfort ye one another with these words FINIS
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
beginning is very evident Our blessed LORD when he began with his Ministry to lay the Foundations of the new Jerusalem the Gospel Church what could be more plainly distinguishing than his chusing the select number of Twelve as one Superiour Order of Ministers and of Seventy whom he sent forth to Preach the Gospel as an Order inferiour to the Twelve Tho' their general Office and Commission as Preachers were both the same which made them of one Body and Society as such but of a different Order and Degree and these as plainly and politically distinguished from the Body of the common Disciples as any one political Society or Company of Men in the World is from another And thus they have been ever since with all the reason in the World taken as a particular Company and Body of Men on the account of their Holy Calling separate and distinct from the Common People and as such have a Government of Christs own Institution proper and peculiar to them I do not think that the exact number of Twelve or of Seventy doth at all concern us Gentiles but that which is in it common both to Jews and Gentiles concerns us as well as them What the Priests were to the Levites that the Twelve were to the Seventy Yea and among the Twelve there seems to be a difference both of Order and Degree Tho' Peter was not the Princeps Apostolorum he was the Primus Discipulorum the Seniour of that School or Collegium Presbyterorum and next in Dignity under Christ his LORD and Master for we find that Peter was the Person unto whom Christ did immediately direct all his Speeches that concerned them in common that when the Twelve or any part of them are mention'd if Peter were one he was always named first Yea and Matthew in his Catalogue does not only name him first but gives him the Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which for ought I know is as much as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Praeses Neither tho' this be granted will it at all strengthen or favour the arrogant claim of the Bishop of Rome to be Peter's Successor For Peter himself was call'd the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not with relation to the Church Universal of which Christ alone is the Head but with relation to that particular Society or Collegium of which he was then a Member For when the frame and Oeconomy of that particular Society was dissolved as it was by the Death of Christ Peter was no more a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Primate or President than any of the other Eleven were 2. That it must be always so And great reason there is for this 1. Because Christ hath instituted it by his own practice and example as appears by what hath been now said and what Christ hath once instituted may not by man be abrogated or altered 2. Because there is perpetual need of it I need not descant upon this Doleful Experience tells us to our shame that there is no Society or Body of men in the World that have more need of the Reins of Government than the Ministry Hath every Company of Physicians Chirurgeons Merchants Apothecaries Taylors Drapers Shoemakers Victuallers Vintners Bakers Brick-layers c. need of a Government peculiar to their respective Companies and Professions in the best governed Towns and Corporations I would I could say that Ministers have not much more whose Errours and Miscarriages are of sadder consequence than any of theirs aforementioned If every Minister as such be immediately under Christ as to Government which cannot be unless they had their Commission immediately from him as the Apostles had then is he accountable to none else but is absolute and independent in his Office What grosser principle of Tyranny can there be than this What wider Gate can there be opened to the most Licentious Arbitrariness And in what a case then are the poor Churches This is to pull down one Tyrant and to set up many thousands and to make every Novice a Lord over Gods Heritage Quest 2. By whom must they be ruled Sol. Not by themselves sure that 's plain Anarchy and utterly inconsistent with any Form of Political Government which the Quakers themselves would soon be weary of as in Pensilvania they say they begin to be were they not in despight of their irrational Principles preserv'd from the mischievous consequences of them by the common benefit of the Government they here live under but they must be rul'd by the Authority which God hath set over them and every one both Pastors and People by their own immediate Officers Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves Heb. 13.17 And who are they whom Christ hath set to Rule and to Govern in his House but those whom he calls his Stewards his Ministers into whose hands he hath committed the Keys of Government Neither hath he shared the Ruling Power or any part of it between them and the People nor could it have been consistent with the honour of his Wisdom or the Interest and Peace of his Churches to have done it I will give unto Thee not one but both the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven Mat. 16.19 That these are the Keys of Doctrine and Discipline appears by the explication of it in the next words Whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven which is the exercise of the Authority given him Neither is this Power of Government given to Peter exclusively nor as a private Disciple but as a publick Minister and publick Officer in the Church of Christ and with him to all the rest of his Brethren in the same Office for them and for their Successors Mat. 18.18 Who is it that Christ means by the faithful and wise Steward Lu. 12.42 Is it not the same that the Apostle means 1 Cor. 4.1 The Ministers of Christ and Tit. 1.7 A Bishop must be blameless as the Steward of God And this is the Steward whom his Lord shall make Ruler over his Houshold to give them their portion of meat in due season So that the Government of his Church is established by Christ in the hands of his Ministers on whom he breathed the Holy-Ghost to qualifie them for and carry them thro' all the work both ordinary and extraordinary whereto he sent them Joh. 20.22 By this it appears in the general in whose hands immediately under Christ the governing power doth lye not in the People but in the Ministers of the Gospel who alone are his Stewards and unto whom at his departure he delivered the Keys of his House and of all the Provisions and Treasures in it And who are sometimes in the New Testament call'd his Ambassadors or Messengers sometimes Bishops or Overseers sometimes Presbyters or Elders sometimes Proestotes or Rulers which are but several Names and Titles given to one and the same sort of men I know no point in Scripture more plainly asserted than this viz. That Christ hath join'd
Practice or the satisfaction of your doubting Consciences By this we should see how you grow and improve in the Faith and that our Labours with and for you are not in vain in the Lord. 4. He hath charg'd us as we love him ' to have an especial care of you May not this assure you how dear you are to him and should not this both engage and encourage you in your work My dear Children 'T is our love to Christ and to your souls that alone is able to sweeten our work to us Tho we travel in birth again with you till Christ be formed in you yet never did your Mothers more willingly endure the pains of their Travel for you nor more joyfully embrace you from the Womb of the natural birth than we would do from the Womb of the New-birth As there is joy in a Family at the living birth of a Son or of a Daughter so there is joy both in Heaven above and in the Heaven of the Church here below at the conversion of a sinner unto God O let us share in this heavenly joy over you and be able to say in the day of his coming Behold we and the children whom the Lord hath given us But I must not insist here CHAP. VII The Peoples Duty BEar with me while I speak a few words to those whom I mean by the Sheep the more adult and aged sort of professors Which I shall comprize as briefly as I can in these six Particulars 1. Doth Christ own you for his Sheeps Should not you then own him for your Shepherd And if so should you not know his voice and be able to discern it from the voice of a stranger Sirs your Shepherd is but one tho your inferior Pastors and Teachers be many and his voice in them all is one and the same If they speak not with his Voice they are not of his sending There are many Thieves and Robbers in the world that come in Sheeps clothing and wear a rough garment to deceive and many there are that are deceived by them 'T was so from the beginning ever since Satan hath transform'd himself into an Angel of Light and so it will ever be 'till he be bound and cast into the bottomless pit But those that are his know his voice and a Stranger will they not follow This is one of the Propria quarto modo of his Sheep they have an Vnction from the holy one and know all things that is all things that are absolutely necessary to salvation Not that they are infallible as to the Circumstantials and lesser matters of Religion herein they may be and too often are deceived Hence are those diversities of opinion that are among them and those scandalous unbrotherly dissentions that are the effects of them But this diversity is not in the Shepherd's Voice but in their apprehensions and the measures of their capacities and attainments But the more perfectly the Shepherd's Voice is known the less there will be of this diversity of apprehension and strife about it And yet this variety of opinion in the Circumstantials would hardly deserve to be accounted a blemish in the mystical body were it not for that selfishness that is commonly the root and that uncharitableness that is the fruit of it But besides this it is shameful and sad to consider how many there be that have been all their lives even to old age flock'd and folded among the Sheep of Christ under the same ordinances and spiritual enjoyments with others and yet understand very little of the Shepherds voice that are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth 2 Tim. 3.7 That for want of Principles are like children tossed to and fro and carried away with every wind of Doctrine or whose minds are like sieves that retain nothing but the earthly grosser sort of things Who for the time ought to be Teachers but yet have need that one teach them again which be the first Principles of the Oracles of God Heb. 5.12 Such Sheep are the shame of such a Shepherd Again If you are his Sheep should you not hear and hearken to his Voice and delight in his Presence with you Should you not come at his Call and go at his Bidding and his Word be a Law with you My Sheep hear my Voice and I know them and they follow me Joh. 10.27 2. Is he your Shepherd O how should you love him then 'T is natural for Sheep to love their Shepherd but though in this case it be indeed supernatural yet it is of all things in the World the most reasonable He is not only your Shepherd to feed and to protect and provide but your Saviour and Redeemer to die for you I am the good Shepherd the good Shepherd giveth his life for the Sheep Joh. 10.11 We must have perisht eternally but for him 'T were endless to enumerate all the reasons we have to love him which way soever we look upon him in his Person in his Offices in his Graces in what he hath done in what he hath suffered in what he hath purchased in what he hath promised in what he hath prepared for us he is altogether lovely Yea as the Sun is all Light so is Christ all Love to his Saints His Word are his Love-Letters to them his Ordinances his Love-Feasts with them and all his Providences both Crosses and Comforts are the Seals of his Love to them The more we seriously think of him or of our selves the more we shall see it both reasonable and necessary to love him We cannot love our selves truly unless we love him sincerely If any man love not the LORD Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha 1 Cor. 16.22 One of the most accursed Wretches that are out of Hell O love the LORD all ye his Saints for the LORD preserveth the faithful and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer Psal 31.23 'T is our Duty 't is our Interest and if we are Saints indeed 't is our Property to love him God is Love where there is most of Love there is most of God and most of a Christian Where Love dwells there God dwells and where God is there is Heaven The glorified Life above is a Life of perfect Love Love will make you a Heaven upon Earth a Heaven of Holiness and a Heaven of Joy and Peace O in what holy Order is every thing kept in that heart where the Love of Christ reigns every inordinate Affection and irregular Passion supprest every Temptation easily resisted and repelled the whole Frame and Oeconomy of the Soul under the power and sweet Influences of Love And O the heavenly Peace and Serenity that is there what a calm is there where the Love of Christ commands all What a Banquet of Spiritual Joy is that Soul feasting on with her Beloved her heart is at rest in him all the burden of her cares and fears are devolved upon him the poor Soul rides