eye, and let it appear, fome way or other, it has a connection with him, and centers in him. The gospel to be preached, is the gospel of the grace of God; and it is fometimes called the grace of God itself; the doctrines of it are the doctrines of free grace, and declare, that the falvation of men, from first to laft, and in all the parts of it, is of grace, and not of works; and these are to be faithfully difpenfed, as that the first step to the falvation of men, the choice of them to it, is of grace, and not of works; that men are justified freely by the grace of God, through the redemption that is in Christ Jefus, and not by the works of the law; that the full forgiveness of fins, though by the blood of Chrift, is according to the riches of God's grace; and that eternal life is the free gift of God, through Jefus Christ our Lord: Yea, every truth that is contained in the fcriptures, and is agreeable to them, is to be preached; for all scripture is profitable for doctrine; from thence it is to be fetched, and by it to be supported and maintained; this is the standard of faith and practice; and as it is by this the hearers of the word are to try what they hear, and judge whether things are right or wrong, they hear; fo this fhould be the rule to minifters to preach by; to the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them'. The doctrinal part of the fcripture is more especially to be attended to, because that is the food with which the flock. and church of God is to be fed, by thofe who are the paftors and overfeers of it; and therefore, as they fhould take heed to themselves, and to the flock une der their care, fo to their doctrine; that it be found doctrine, pure, and incorrupt; that it be intirely agreeable to the facred writings; that it be the doctrine of Chrift, which comes from him, and is concerning him; that it be fuch as was preached by his apoftles, and is contained in their difcourfes and epiftles; and that it be according to godliness: though not the doctrines of the gospel only are to be preached, but the duties of religion are alfo to be inculcated in their proper place and course, and to be preffed on believers upon gospel-principles and motives; the churches are to be taught to obferve all things which Christ has commanded, every ordinance of his, and every duty enjoined, both with refpect to God and men; faints are to be put in mind to be ready to every good work; and those that have believed in God, are to be charged to be careful to maintain good works for neceffary uses; every doctrine and every duty, in their turns, are to be insisted on, throughout the circle of the evangelic ministry.

Let controverfy, as little as may be, be brought into the pulpit; controverfial fermons, when beft managed, are generally unedifying ones to the peoplein common; tend to damp the true fpirit of religion and devotion, which it is the design of preaching the word to excite; and ferve to entangle, perplex, and: confound

confound weak minds; objections are often started to be folved, which are not eafily done; by which means captious perfons, and fuch as are difinclined to receive the truth, are furnished with them, who otherwife would not; and fometimes the folutions of fuch objections are not quite fatisfactory to the friends of truth, and fo rather tend to ftagger than to establish: Upon the whole, it is beft to preach the pure truths of the gospel in the plaineft manner, and endeavour to illustrate and confirm them by fcripture-teftimonies, and by reafonings drawn from thence, and leave them with their native evidence upon the minds of men.

Now confider, that all this is to be done compleatly, conftantly, and confiftently; the gospel is to be preached fully, as it was by the apostle Paul', according to the measure of the gift of grace given; and when a man preaches the whole gospel of Chrift, and delivers out all the doctrines of it, and urges to all the duties relative to it, and declares the whole counsel of God; then may he be faid to do the work of an evangelist, and to make full proof of his ministry, and to fulfil the miniftry which he has received of Chrift: and this is to be done constantly; these things, fays the apoftle, I will that thou affirm cònftantly; the truths, before fpoken of, concerning the state of God's people in unregeneracy, the loving-kindness of God to them in their redemption by Chrift, the faving them by the washing of regeneration, the justification of them by the free grace of God, and their heirship and title to eternal life, upon that; the word must be preached in feafon, and out of feafon, as often as opportunity offers, and the minifters of Christ must be ftedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing their labour is not in vain in the Lord: and care should be taken, that this work is done confiftently; that the ministry is uniform, and all of a piece; that there is no contradiction, no yea and nay in it; otherwise great confufion will be created in the minds of hearers, and they will be thrown into the utmost perplexity, not knowing what to believe, or receive; for if the trumpet gives an uncertain found, who shall prepare himself

to the battle" ?

2. Another part of the work to be performed by you, is the administration/ of gospel-ordinances, and they are principally Baptism and the Lord's fupper: the administration of baptism goes along with the ministry of the word; such, who have a commiffion from Chrift to teach and inftruit men in divine things, have a commiffion alfo to baptize those who are taught and instructed by them, in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the holy Ghoft; nor have any other a right to do it: fome have thought that Philip who baptized the eunuch and others, was Philip the deacon; but be it fo, he was an evangelist also, a preacher of the gospel, as it is plain he was; and therefore he baptized, not by vir

tue

Rom. xv. 19.

D 2

Titus iii. 8.

I Cor. xiv. 8.

tue of his office as a deacon, but as a teacher and a preacher of the word of God. The apostle Paul indeed fays, Chrift fent me not to baptize, but to preach the gofpel; but then his meaning is, that he was not fent only to baptize, or this was not the principal part of his miniftry; it was chiefly to preach the gospel, though not to the exclufion of the administration of ordinances; nor does he fay this, as thinking, or fpeaking meanly of the ordinance of baptifm; but because fome perfons had made an ill ufe of their being baptized by him; and were. ready to boast of it, as if they were baptized in his name. It is incumbent on you, to adminifter this ordinance to the perfons which are defcribed in the word of God, and of which there are examples in it, and in the manner therein directed to, and practifed. The ordinance of the Lord's fupper, being an ordinance in the church, is to be adminiftered by the paftor of it; fuch who break the bread of life in the ministry of the word, are to break the bread in the ordinance of the fupper: the apostle Paul broke bread to the difciples, to whom he preached; and this ordinance is to be adminiftered frequently, as is fuggested in those words, as often as ye eat this bread, &c. *; in it the fufferings of Christ fhould be defcribed, and his love fet forth in the moft moving and pathetic ftrains; and he be reprefented as crucified and flain, in as lively a manner, as the adminiftrator is capable of.

3. Another part of your work, is to take care of the difcipline of the house of God; for though every thing is to be done by the vote and fuffrage of the church, the power of difcipline being lodged in it by Chrift, the head of it; yet the executive part of it will lie chiefly upon you; though none are to be admite ted to, or excluded from the communion of the church, but according to its voice, and with its confent: yet it fhould be greatly your concern, to examine things clofely, whether the perfons are fit to be received or rejected; and to take care, that nothing be done through favour or affection, and with partiality. Paftors of churches have a rule and government committed to them; they are fet over others in the Lord; they are not indeed to lord it over God's heritage, to rule them in an haughty and imperious manner, but according to the laws of Chrift: which they are carefully to obferve, and point out to the church, and fee that they are put in execution; in doing which their government chiefly lies; you are therefore to take care, that every thing in the church. be done decently, and in order, and according to the rule of the divine word: particularly, care should be taken that no cafe in difference, of a private nature, be brought into the church, before the rule is obferved, which Chrift has given in reference to fuch a cafe; that the offended brother fhould first tell the offender of his fault alone, and endeavour to convince him of it; and if he fhould not fucceed,

fucceed, then to take one or two more, and try by them to bring him to an ac-, knowledgment of it; but, if after all he is obftinate and incorrigible, then bring it to the church. But as for those that fin openly, that are guilty of notorious and fcandalous crimes, in a public manner, to the great difgrace of religion, as well as grief of the church, these are to be rebuked before all, without any more to do, that others may fear: the feveral rules to be attended to, with refpect to church-difcipline, you are to inculcate to the church, at proper times, and on proper occafions; as to admonish perfons guilty of immorality and error, to withdraw from those that walk diforderly, after all methods taken to reclaim them are vain and fruitless; and to reject an beretic, after the first and second admonition, when without effect.

4. Another part of your work, is to vifit the feveral members of the church,) as their cafes may require, efpecially when diftreffed, either in body or mind; then to pray with them, and for them, to fpeak a word of comfort to them, and give them your best counsel and advice; and this will introduce you into divers famil.es; but take care not to meddle with family-affairs; what you hear and fee in one family report it not in another; this may be attended with bad confequences: and whatever differences may arife between one and another, interfere as little as poffible; chufe rather that differences between members be composed by other perfons, the officers of the church, than by you, that no prejudices be entertained against your ministry; and particularly be careful to avoid that scandalous practice, the difgrace of the pulpit, bringing matters of difference into it, whether between yourself or others, or whether between one member and another, one fide of which you may incline to take; for why should the peace and edification of a whole community be destroyed, through the noise and din of private quarrels ? As this is a practice exceeding mean, it is very unbecoming the gospel of peace, and the minifters of it. Moreover, you will be called upon fometimes to vifit fick perfons, who are not members of the church; and who may be ftrangers to the grace of God, and the way of falvation by Chrift; and who have been either profane perfons, or refting upon their civility and morality, pleafing themselves, that they have wronged no man, and have done that which is right between man and man; and now in dying circumftances, hope, on this account, things will be well with them; and whofe relatives may be afraid of your faying any thing to interrupt this carnal peace; yet, be faithful, labour to fhew the one and the other their wretched and undone ftate by nature; the neceffity of repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jefus Chrift, in his blood, righteoufnefs, and atoning facrifice, for peace, pardon, juftification, and falvation. This is a cafe, I affure you, will require a good.

Matt. xviii. 15-17.

1 Tim, v. 20.

a 2 Thefs. iii. 6. Tit.. iii. 10..

good deal of care, judgment, and faithfulness. And now, I doubt not, but by this time you will be ready to fay, who is fufficient for these things? Wherefore,

Thirdly, Confider the qualifications neceffary to the performance of the minifterial work; and what things are requifite and useful for the due discharge of it and here let it be obferved, that there are some things which are serviceable and useful in it, which, properly speaking, are not the qualifications for it; as for instance, the grace of God is a pre-requifite to this work; it is highly proper that those who are engaged in it, fhould be partakers of it in truth: yet grace is not the minifterial qualification; for this is what all the faints have in common, the graces of the fpirit, faith, hope, and love; they all obtain like precious faith, for nature, kind, and object, though not to the fame degree, one as another; they are all called in one hope of their calling, by the same grace, to the fame glory; and they are all taught of God to love God, Christ, and one another; yet this does not qualify them for minifters of the word; if grace was a minifterial qualification, all the Lord's people would be what Mofes wifhed they were, even all of them prophets. Human learning is very useful and ferviceable to a minister of the gospel; to have such a share of it, as to be capable of reading the fcriptures in the original tongues in which they were written; and by means of knowledge of languages, to be able to read the writings of many excellent good men, written therein, to their profit and advantage; as well as to know the use of words, and the propriety of speech: and fuch who are called to the work of the miniftry, who have not had a liberal education, and yet have time and leisure, are not eafily to be excused, if they do not make use of their time, and thofe means that may be had, to improve themselves in ufeful knowledge; and yet, after all, the highest attainments in human literature are not minifterial qualifications; for a man may be able to read the Bible in the languages in which it was written, and yet not understand the things contained in it; for it is a fealed book, which when put into the hands of a learned man to read and interpret, he cannot, because it is fealed. Good natural parts are of great fervice and ufe to a minifter of the word; as to have a clear understanding, a folid judgment, a lively fancy, a fruitful invention, and a retentive memory; but these a man may have, and yet not be fit to be a minister of the gospel; yea, men may have all the above things, grace, learning, and natural parts, and not be qualified for this work. The apostle Paul had all of them; he was a man of good natural parts, which his adverfaries per<ceived and owned; his letters, fay they, are mighty and powerful, wrote in a mas culine ftyle, and full of strong reasonings, and nervous arguments; he had a large share of human literature, being brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, in

2 Cor. ii. 16.

2 Cor x. 12.

all