safely at Anchor and is careful for nothing O Sirs 'T is not so where the Love of the World and the Lusts of the Flesh rule there 's the Hell of vile affections spiritual filthiness ungodly counsel and courses There are the storms and tempests the restless foaming waves of carnal desires and worldly cares and fears and fretful discontents 'T is a miserable life that the worldling lives The wicked are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest whose waters cast up mire and dirt Isa 57.20 And 't is our sin and folly that we are so like them The Love of Christ would help all this Yea do you not profess to love him and would you not be offended with him that should question it But what is Profession without proof If you love him you will obey him and none of his Commandments will be grievous to you Love is bountiful nothing will be too much or too dear for him The Love that is genuine is generous If you love him you will love all of him his Image his Company his Ordinances his Ministers his Ways But I must refer you to others for the Marks of the Sincerity of your Love to him 3. Are you his Sheep Should you not then love one another The Sheep is a sociable creature extreamly fond of their fellows O let not Christ's Sheep be Wolves and Tygers to one another A new Commandment I give you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another Joh. 13.34 Be ye followers of God as dear Children and walk in love as Christ hath loved us and hath given himself for us Ephes 5.1 2. See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently 1 Pet. 1.22 We know that we have passed from death into life because we love the Brethren He that loveth not his Brother abideth in death 1 Joh. 3.14 There hath been enough spoken and written on this Subject One of the commonest Themes of a most contentious Age. But alas words are wind and the wind hath but blown the Coals And Love is no Salamander it cannot live in the Fire yea though it be it self a fire it is from above of another nature and original whose flame will not unite nor conspire with those heterogeneous smothers which are from beneath How partial and private-spirited is the Charity of most of the hottest Zealots in every Party that cannot overcome the prejudices of their Ignorance Interest or Education but with pettish Jonah think they do well to be angry O that men knew better what spirit they are of The Flock of Christ are not all of one complexion nor of one Drove nor of one manner of Discipline in Circumstantials Those that have many Sheep have some fat and some lean some that are kept more strictly in their fenced Fields others that feed and range at greater liberty on the course and cold and short Downs and Commons yet have they all but one common Nature one Name one Mark and one Master So it is with the Flock of Christ in this their imperfect state There are some that are not so clean nor so sound as others yet they are Sheep and his Sheep and must as such be loved and pitied and not hated or scorned or disowned by us I have sometimes wondered at the reason why Dissentions on Religious accounts are always wont to be most fierce and implacable It cannot be because Man in this his lapsed estate is so Religious a Creature no 't is the Enemy that hath the most deep and mischievous Design in it 't is Pride and Envy and Superstition that is the Fomes of the Mine to which the Devil lays his Train under colour of Religion to blow up Religion and all that depends upon it in the World The Enemy fears not much what hurt Religion can do his interest in the world if he can but blow up the charity of those that profess it For what doth Faith signify without love by which it works 4. Are you his Sheep should you not then be very tender of your own Lambs There is hardly any kind of Creature but is fond of their young and if in any case they will be fierce 't is in their defence Even the Sea Monsters draw out the breasts they give suck to their young ones Lam. 4.3 O let not those that are called Christians be like the Ostriches in the Wilderness and forget that their poor Children have souls as well as bodies to be cared for Those that are evil know how to give good gifts to their Children They know how to feed them when they are hungry how to cloath them when they are naked how to physick them when they are sick how to instruct them in their worldly business and how to bestow them for their worldly advantage And herein there are few so unnatural but that they are diligent enough according to their ability and understanding and if this be all you do for yours what do ye more than others You rejoice perhaps in that they are born and you can call them yours but what can you hope for from them what comfort can you promise your selves in them if they be not new born If you provide only for their bodies their baser and mortal part what do you for them more than for your Hogs or Cattel which you are careful to feed and make fat for the day of slaughter Can you without terror think of their being damn'd Should you not do your utmost then to prevent it Do you not know that they are by Nature the Children of Wrath And that you were the Instruments of bringing them into this condition Are you not bound in Justice then with all your Care and Diligence to endeavour their Deliverance How can you believe this and not be concerned for them 'T is true we your Pastors are bound by the command of Christ to feed them but are not you equally bound both by the Bonds of Grace and Nature to begin and to assist with us in that work Time forbids me tho' my bowels urge me to enlarge here O let not Reformation dye at half way with this Generation but let what we have striven and pray'd and suffered and so long waited for be by Gods blessing on your faithful diligence and utmost endeavours conveyed with advantage to the next Tho God can of Stones raise up Children unto Abraham yet you may not expect that he shall work Miracles for those that live in the neglect of known duty 5. Are you his Sheep and committed by him who is both our LORD and Master and yours to us to feed and to rule for him Should you not then hearken to us and own the authority wherewith we are entrusted for your good Remember we must give our accounts shortly and so must you Whether ever I shall meet you again in this Place God knows but am sure that we shall one day meet again in a far greater assembly
are worst able to defend or provide for themselves they are weak in Judgment and weak in Experience and weak things are soon lost Therefore especial provision must be made for them 2. They are first in the Charge because they are first in the Order of Nature They are Lambs before they are Sheep and herein they seem to claim a precedency Therefore first Feed my Lambs 3. They are Spes Gregis The Hope of the Flock Though the weaker yet commonly the sounder part though the more Ignorant yet the more Teachable O Sirs if we lose them while they are Lambs 't will be hard perhaps too late to cure or recover them when they are grown more wild or more rotten The greatest hope of the success of our work lies here But where common Experience says so much I need say the less 4. They are Fundamentum Gregis By whom the Stock is maintained and a Succession preserved in the Earth The Seminary and common Fund of the Church To lose the Lambs is the ready way to lose all 5. They are the most Innocent part of the Flock There is a kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an innate Principle of Dearness and Affection in every ingenuous Breast for such as these Can a Woman forget her sucking Child She will sooner forget all the rest than her Little one He shall feed his Flock like a Shepherd he shall gather the Lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young Isa 40.11 This was spoken of Him by whom the words of my Text were spoken No wonder then that he takes the first care for these Yet though the Lambs are first we find them but once mentioned in the Text but the Sheep twice Is it because the Sheep are more in number or more in value or doth it not seem rather to tell us That though the Lambs call for our first Care the Sheep are they that cost us double Labour while they are young and tender they are more ductile and teachable their Minds are a Tabula rasa not prepossest with Opinion or Prejudice their Affections green and complying and not actually preingag'd their Consciences untoucht in their natural Virginity I do not say in their Original Purity But when they are grown up and have imbib'd a few Religious Notions and are grown fond of them or have proselyted themselves to a Party how hard is it convince them or to rectifie their Errours in Judgment When they have tasted the sensual sweets of sin or intangled their hearts in the Cares of the World or espoused their Christian Profession to a Carnal Interest or under a Form of Godliness are come to settle in their Lees O how hard and next to impossible is it then to move them when stray'd among the wild Beasts to reclaim them when rotten to recover them Here 's double Labour with these Or else they are twice mentioned because they are capable of Pastoral Inspection in one point beyond what the Lambs are Of which I shall take a little notice in the next Thus much for the Order of the Charge 2. We are next to consider the Matter of it Wherein I shall not use the old Logical Terms of dividing but briefly take notice of the Charge it self and the Argument that is here used to enforce it 1. The Gharge is Feed my Lambs and my Sheep My Lambs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 My Sheep 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I would not querere nodum in Scirpo seek for Subtilties where the Text neither intends nor needs any I know the words are often synonymously used yet if we look into their Etymology we shall find some difference and which to me seems to be designed here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies only to feed so as to make fat saginare but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not only to seed but to rule and govern to exercise the Office not only the Care but the Power of a Shepherd over his Flock So then here 's the Reason of what I just now hinted at The Lambs are but once mentioned and the Charge concerning them is only to Feed them these being not capable of Pastoral Discipline and Government But with the Sheep there 's the double labour both of Feeding and Ruling I shall not now trouble you with the Popish Questions that have been controverted on this Text as being alien to the design and proper work of this Day Only let me say again That what was here spoken to Peter was spoken to every one of the other Apostles wherein both They and We. that have succeeded them in their ordinary Work and Office of the Ministry are personally and equally concerned And though the Lambs and the Sheep make up the whole Church of Christ upon Earth it cannot be understood that the Church Oeâ—umenical was here committed to the Charge of every or of any one individual Pastor such a Work being loaded with Moral Impossibility But the Charge being given personally and particularly it must be understood of the Church Congregational that is that Part or Congregation of the Church whereunto every one is particularly and according to Gospel Order called and set as Pastor or Over seer Thus you have the Charge it self 2. Here 's the Argument wherewith our Saviour enforces it which is threefold 1. The Relations he hath to them They are My Lambs and My Sheep Mine whom you call your LORD and your Master yea your Redeemer and your Saviour Therefore feed them for my sake 2. The Propriety he hath in them They are Mine and not Yours the work of my hands the Lot of my Inheritance the Objects of my Care and Delight the Price of my Blood and the Fruit of the Travel of my Soul for whose sakes it is that I have thus humbled my self Therefore take heed how you neglect the least of them 3. The other part of the Argument is concomitant to the Text Lovest thou me q. d. If thou lovest me as thou professest to do shew thy Love to Me in thy Care of Mine Let my poor Lambs tast the Fruits of my Love in thee Let my Sheep be assur'd that thou lovest Me by thy Love to Them It is like a careful and prudent Husband 's passionate recommending the Care and Rule of his dear Children and Family when about to leave them by Death or a long Journey to his beloved Wife If ever you had any Love for me if these Children be mine as I believe them to be see that you carry your self in all respects as becomes a discreet and loving Parent towards them Take my Estate fill up my room and discharge the Offices of my Relation to them and let them want nothing for my sake This is that which is wont to be used as the last and most overcoming Argument amongst dearest Friends If you love me do so or so a kind of adjuring them by all the Bonds of Love and Friendship
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those that labour among you and admonish you So Heb. 13.7 Those that Rule are the same with those that Preach the Word and ver 17. They are said to Watch for Souls which as it may imply other work so it must import Preaching the Word in which sense the word is ordinarily used in Scripture And here the Rulers and the Watch-men are the same Many other Texts there are that freely offer to avouch this Truth but these are enough to prove what I aim at That the work of a Minister of Christ is both to Teach and to Govern the People committed to his charge And he that is not fit to Govern is not worthy to Teach them But to obviate any scandalous Reflexions that Ignorance or Envy may make on this Position and Claim of our Governing Power in the House of God which is his Church We heartily declare our Abhorrence of all those Popith Tenets and Pretensions which are any way derogatory to the just Power and Authority of the Civil Government under which we live and unto which we profess our chearful and constant Obedience both as Men and as Christians Our Spiritual Government of Gods Spiritual Kingdom in our respective Charges being no more prejudicial to that of Temporal States and Kingdoms than is the Despotical which is the Natural Right of every Family Yea so far from prejudicial that it is accumulative both of their Honour and Security as the Experience both of the Primitive and of the best Reformed Churches have unquestionably proved and which might in many particular instances were it necessay be demonstrated From what hath been now thus briefly said I conclude this Question That Feed my Lambs and my Sheep implies these two things Teach them and Rule them wherein the whole works of the Ministerial Office is included But to tell you how they must be taught and how they ought to be ruled will need much more time than is here allotted me or is now convenient for me to take Yet this being the Main of my Errand to you something must be spoken to it as time and strength will serve in the Applicatory part to which I now proceed CAP. III. The Doctrine improved by way of Instruction THIS Doctrine would be useful more ways than I shall be able now to apply it Yet give me leave to suggest some of the more necessary things under these three general Heads Instruction Exhortation Encouragement 1. By way of Instruction and that in these eight particulars 1. In the Right and Propriety that Christ hath in his Church They are his own Sheep Joh. 10.3.4 No Shepherd in the World ever had or can have that absolute undefeasible supream independent and natural Propriety in his Flock as Christ hath in his They are His both as God and as Redeemer His by right of Creation Donation Purchase Regeneration and their own voluntary Choice and Self-dedication His Portion His Inheritance His peculiar Treasure Nothing is nearer nothing dearer to him than they His Mark and his Name is upon them his Spirit his Nature his Image his Glory shines in them The Scripture is full of his Claims to them and by which they are distinguish'd and separate from all the rest of the World Joh. 15.19 And this is the ground of that Caution 1 Pet. 5.2 3. Feed the Flock of God which is among you Neither as being Lords over God's Heritage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ruling but not Domineering Governing but not Tyrannizing more Regio imperantes as Deputies and Rulers in trust not as Lords and Kings Non Regnum sed Cura Presbyteris commissa est beccause they are not Yours but God's Heritage his Clergy whether Ministers or People for the word in the use as well as derivation of it reaches both Church-Tyranny is an Encroachment upon Christ's peculiar Right To Rule with a Lordly Grandeur with Rigour or Arbitrariness to Monopolize the Power which ought to be more equally distributed is very injurious not only to the Flock but to him who is the LORD of it and whose Servants and Stewards we profess our selves to be And which is a guilt that the proudest He upon Earth will not have the hardiness to own before his Judge another day 2. In the tender Affection and Care he hath for them Nothing is more apt to endear a thing to us than Propriety That which is our own we love though it be not as it should be nor as we wish yet because 't is our own And those that do otherwise are justly reckoned among the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 without natural Affection and worse than Infidels But should I begin to tell you what dearness of Affection the LORD Jsus Christ hath for his poor little Flock where should I end Eternity will be little enough with admiration and praise to recount the glorious Soul-ravishing Instances of this Love He loved them so as to leave the Eternal Throne of his Glory and the sweet Repose he had from Everlasting in the Bosom of the Father for them So as to humble and abase himself to the vile Raggs of our Humane Nature to the Miseries and Necessities of an indigent life to the proud Scorns and blasphemous Indignities of a wicked and horridly ungrateful World to the foul Temptations and Buffettings of Satan to the imputation of Sin the only thing so abhorrent to his pure and sinless Nature to the Bondage Obedience and Curse of the Law to the Wrath of God which he never in the least for himself deserved and which to any one else would have been utterly unsupportable to the most ignâ—â—â—inious torturous and accursed Death of the Cross and to the power of Death his own Servant and common Executioner for a time And all this his Love to them overcame and sweetned to him Yea and having loved them he loves them still and will love them to the end yea without end And therefore delights to speak of them always with some Intimations of their dearness to him as his Friends his Brethren his Children his Lambs his Spouse his Members c. for all which I had no need to quote you the Scriptures And as is his Love to them so is his Care of and Provision for them When he saw it expedient for them to depart from them as to his bodily presence and to leave them here in a Militant state exposed to the Rage of his and their Enemies both Temporal and Infernal to be hated and tempted and persecuted to the death for his sake O how did his Soul pity them with what compassion did he embrace them and seal his unchangeable Love to them what a stream of endearing Affection and Care doth there run thro' his parting Discourses with them Joh. 14.15 and 16. How sweetly doth he counsel and comfort them there and is so concerned for them that he seems to take no care for himself though he knew that dreadful Hour was now come wherein that Wrath must be
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