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

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●5 to give them their Meat in due season when 't will be most useful for them and not when 't would be hurtful to them Luke 12. ●2 And as his Wisdom is shewn in the Seasonableness so also in the Quality and Quantity of the Meat which he gives them which ought also to be such as is due to them Three great Books which a Minister ought chiefly to study to make him wise and prudent are the Holy Word his own Heart and his own People 4. Such must be sincere and faithful they must be Loyal to their Trust and according to their due knowledge they must dispense what they are entrusted withal An unfaithful Steward may greatly wrong his Master and injure the Family either by an extravagant Wasting or a clandestine Embezelling of the Goods committed to him 't is therefore an especial Qualification in a Steward and especially in a Spiritual and Ecclesiastical Steward that he be true and trusty This is the Property our Ssaviour gives of his Servant and Steward Matth. 24.45 that he be faithful as well as wise Luke 12.42 have an honest Heart as well as an able Head to give his Houshold their Meat in due season And this the Apostle speaks of in the Verse immediately following the Text. Moreover 't is required in Stewards 1 Cor. 4. that a Man be found faithful as tho' 't were the only necessary Qualification of such an one And when he directs Timothy to the Properties of those that should be intrusted with the Mysteries of God he tells him 2 Tim. 2. The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also NOw this Faithfulness and Loyalty to God excludes all base and sinister ends of the Stewardship as Honours Riches Applause from Men Partiality Men pleasing sowing Pillows under Elbows dawbing with untemper'd Mortar 5. Such must be diligent and laborious Stewards must have their heads their eyes their hands their feet busied or they will never discharge their Office Ministers must redeem all the time they can from their Recreations of the Body from Sleep from Visits they must imploy and exhaust all their strength in this their Stewardship they must wear out their Lungs in Praying and Preaching and blunt their Brains in studying grudge no Pain nor Labor devoting their all to and imploying it in and laying it out about this their Function Matth. 24. So our Ssaviour saith that his Servant must be found so doing when he cometh that is he must be always busie and imployed very industrious and laborious and that without ceasing because our Lord's coming is always uncertain So St. Paul commands Timothy Tim. 4.2 I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom Preach the word instant in season out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long suffering and doctrine Day and night at all times he must labor when any Conveniency presented And he was a most excellent Practiser of his own Precepts for he tells the Corinthians 2 Cor. 1 15. That he would very gladly spend and be spent for them Exhaust his Spirits Blood and all for their Souls good And when he had at Miletus called the Bishops the Presbyters of Ephesus he tells them in that excellent Speech to them Acts 20 21 231. I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you but have shewed you and have taught you publickly and from house to house All day preaching and praying in publick assemblies and at night instructing private families And again watch and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears An excellent Example proposed for our Imitation 6. Such must be courageous and magnanimous Of an undaunted and fearless Spirit in the Discharge of their Office Stewards must be so or else every sawcy and unruly Fellow will daunt them and tread them down and so either make them cease to Discharge their Duty or else out of fear to act quite contrary thereto So must ministers because they will meet with Affronts Accusations Contradictions Evil Intreaties from some other of the Family besides Persecutions of all sorts from abroad if the Devil can raise them even all Persecutions of Tongue Hands Sword Prisons Gibbets and Flames and the more able wise faithful and laborious they are the greater Oppositions and more stout and daring Encounters they are likely to meet with even in the Church are Tares as well as Wheat Chaff as well as good Grain bad as well as good Fish Vessels of Wood and Earth and to Dishonour as well as Vessels of Gold and Silver and tho Honour and from these if forreign Persecutions come not they must expect and will experience very great Oppositions and Discouragements and therefore they must have a courageous Spirit and a Countenance like a Wall of Iron and a Gate of Brass or they will never be able to bear up against and wade thro' all these God therefore forbids his Prophets this carnal Fear of Men as Jer. 1.17 Gird up thy loins and arise and speak unto them all that I command thee Be not dismayed at their faces lest I confound thee before them So also Son of man be not afraid of them neither be afraid of their words Ezek. 2.6 tho' briars and thorns be with thee and thou dost dwell among scorpions be not afraid of their words nor be dismayed at their looks though they be a rebellious house 7. Such must be zealous for God's Glory and devoted to his Honour Stewards must be heartily affected with and swayed by their Master's Interest and must look upon their Lord's Reputation as their own grand Concern and this will engage them to be prudent faithful diligent c. in their Place So must Ministers be toward God toward his Name Kingdom and Glory So was St. Paul that glorious Steward that incomparable Example of all Stewards who did and suffered more for the Glory of his Lord and for the Good of his Houshold then any other Phil. 1.20 he tells us That 't was his earnest expectation and his hope that in nothing he should be ashamed but that with all boldness as always so then also Christ should be magnified in his body whether 't were by life or by death He would labor he would suffer he would live industriously and wear out himself he would dieshamefully and give up himself for the Magnification of the Lord Jesus And so in other places he professes Acts 20. ● Bonds and afflictions abide me neither count I my life dear unto myself so I might finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testifie the gospel of the grace of God So that he might testifie the Gospel and introduce Jews and Gentiles
and more clearly prove the Mind of the Holy Ghost therein 2. Such must be seen very well seen in the things themselves in the matter of their Stewardship even in all the Mysteries and Oracles of God they must have a clear distinct setled satisfactory Knowledge of all Doctrinal and Practical Truths they must have a spiritual Apprehension of them according to their own spiritual Nature How can a Steward ever be a good Steward and duely dispense those things whereof he has no knowledge His Ignorance will make him to mistake one thing for another to the disgrace of his Charge and to the detriment of the Family Mal. 2.7 The Priests lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the law at his mouth for he is the Messenger of the Lord of hosts His Lips and to be sure his Head first must keep Knowledge before he can distribute it to the enquiring People So our Saviour saith Every Scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven Matth. 13. ●2 is like unto a man that is an housholder which bringeth forth out of his treasures things new and old He must be stored with all due knowledge of the things of God and have Treasures of all sorts of them which that we may attain there is required a serious a diligent a humble an assiduous and constant studying of the Holy Scriptures with servent frequent and constant Prayer to God for his Blessing our Study in them and enlightning our Minds and enriching our Souls with them Which St. Paul exhorts Timothy to Tim. 4. ●3 15. Till I come give attendance to reading meditate upon those things give thy self wholly to them that they profiting may appear to all If such an eminent and enlightned Minister as Timothy must read and meditate to profit himself more and more in Divine Knowledge then much more have we need and must it be our Duty to read and meditate daily and constantly that we may increase therein I mean reading in and meditating on the Word of God which doubtless St. Paul chiefly if not only meant in this his Exhortation to Timothy for he tells him in another place 2 Tim. 3.15 17. That the scriptures were able to make him wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus All Scripture is given by Inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good Works So that the Scripture fully and infallibly furnishes us with all Truths with the Confutation of all Errors with all Duties to be pressed upon all our People and with a Discovery of all Sins to be forbidden And hereby the Steward of God's Mysteries may be compleatly furnished for the Discharge of his Function And here for the more clear satisfactory Discovery of the Truths of Scripture and a more ready Use and Improvement of them for the Benefit of the Houshold of God I would exhort to the framing in our Minds of a Methodical Body of Divinity of all the Articles of Faith and of all the Duties of Life A Steward should keep all his Store and Treasure in a distinct Order or else he may be confounded when having occasion on some unexpected Emergency he shall be to seek and not be able to find what is required he should produce Such a Method of Theology is called Rom. 12. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Analogy of Faith which we translate Proportion of Faith wherein every thing is fitly and proportionably placed has its proper dependence one upon another refers each to other is proved illustrated strengthened and confirmed each by other and 't is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tim. 1. The Form or the Scheme of the Plat-form of sound Words formally so in themselves efficiently so in others being the grand Instrument in the hand of the Spirit to make Souls sound and healthy in the Faith Such a Plat-form the Apostle would have Timothy to hold fast to have it always with him and without question 't is more noble and useful in the Head then 't is in a Book He that hath clearly and distinctly such a Body of Divinity in his Head and has experienced the Grace of God in his Heart and keeps alive the Graces of the Spirit will be prepared upon any warning within a little time with his Bible when he can have no other Helps only to preach distinctly orthodoxly and profitably upon any Polemical or Practical Point that may be proposed by the usual assistance of the Spirit of God Whereas such as decry and jeer at this as Systematical Divinity if they should be engaged to discourse upon such a Subject and have no opportunity to recur to their own common Places and Collections nor the help of other Books would make but sorrowful jejune consus'd and blundring work on 't 3. Such must be wise and prudent The former of these three you may call Learning or Knowledge the second you may call Sapience or Wisdom and this you may call Prudence and Discretion By which I mean a diligent and sagacious Inquisition into and Discovery of the Condition and State of the Family and of each Person in it over which we are stated Stewards that so we may know what to distribute of the Mysteries of God unto them which requires a very careful Inspection into them and their ways and doings and a diligent Converse with them and Examination of them as far as conveniently we may A Steward should know the Temper and Constitution of the Family lest he should give Food where Physick is more necessary and so hurt instead of benefiting those that are committed to his Charge he ought to observe whether they work and deserve their Maintenance or whether they be idle and merit nothing lest he should waste his Master's Goods by giving them to those who ought to have none of them Ministers must so endeavour to know the People of their Charge as to know to whom they ought to apply the Promises and whom they ought to chear with the Cordials of the Gospel and to encourage with all the Priviledges thereof and to whom they ought to apply the Threats of the Law and to make them to smart with the Corrosives of the Word and cast them down by a due Exclusion from Evangelical Communion who are Babes and want Instruction and gentle Carriage toward them and who ought to be reproved and severely dealt with In a word they ought so wisely and prudently to know their Personal Charge as to know what is every ones due and so to give to every one suitably his Proportion and proper Part of the Word Sacrament and Censures Which requires great measures of Discretion and Prudence and this is that which is chiefly declared by our Lord Christ in those places where he saith that 't is the part of a wise Servant and Steward over God's House Matth. 24.