où dióκew, without which following of peace and holiness;' that is, unless we endure all contradiction of sinners and objections; without following it close and home to the utmost issue, to the end of all righteousness, tending even to comprehension, to consummation and perfection, no man shall see God; diοíkei év åyiaoμ, is good and great, to dwell in holiness' but that's not enough, it must be SKEL too, we must still pursue' it, and that unto the end; for "he that endureth unto the end shall be saved." 5. And what more? Yes, there is something yet; for besides this extension of duration, there must be intensio graduum: for nondum comprehendimus, nondum perfecti sumus', 'we have not yet comprehended, we are not yet made perfect; but that must be aimed at, "be ye perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect";" be ye meek as Christ is; be ye holy as God is holy; pure as your Father in heaven is pure; and who can be so? No man can be so in degree; but so in kind, every man must desire, and every man must contend to be, and g. it is possible, else it had never been required. 6. And now after all this, one thing more is to be done: you must be so for yourselves, and you must be so for others: you must be so as to please God, and you must be so to edify your brethren: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may glorify your Father which is in heaven;" let it be so eminent and conspicuous, that all that see your conversation, and all that come into your congregations may be convinced,' and 'falling down and worshipping, may say, of a truth the Spirit of the Lord is in you". And g. our blessed Saviour in His sermon upon the mount, which is the summary of a Christian's life, at the end of the eight beatitudes, tells all His followers and disciples, "Ye are the salt of the world," "ye are the light of the world;" and g. the kingdom of heaven, or the gospel is compared "to a woman that hid in three measures of meal," the Jews, the Turks, the heathen idolaters, "her leaven, till all was leavened:" our light must be so shining, our conversation so exemplar, as to draw all the world after us; that they that will not, may be ashamed, and they that will may be allured by the beauty of the flame. These are the proportions and measures of every Christian, for "from the days of John the baptist, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force;" that although John the baptist was the greatest that ever was born of woman,' yet he that is least in the kingdom of heaven',' the meanest of the laity may be 'greater than he.' This is a great height, and these things I have premised, not only to describe the duty of all that are here present, even of all Christians whatsoever, that you may not depart without your portion of a blessing; but also as a foundation of the ensuing periods, which I shall address to [Matt. x. 22.] [Matt. v. 16.] * [Matt. xi. 12.] you my brethren of the clergy, the fathers of the people; for I speak in a school of the prophets, prophets and prophets' sons; to you are or intend to be so. : who For God hath made a separation of you even beyond this separation: He hath separated you yet again; He hath put you anew into the crucible', He hath made you to pass through the fire seven times more. For it is true that the whole community of the people is the church; ecclesia sancta est communio sanctorum, the holy catholic church is the communion of saints; but yet by the voice and consent of all christendom, you are the church by way of propriety, and eminency, and singularity. Churchmen,' that's your appellative all are avòpès Tνevμaτikola, spiritual men,' all have received the Spirit, and all walk in the Spirit, and ye are all sealed by the Spirit unto the day of redemption,' and yet there is a spirituality peculiar to the clergy. "If any man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness":" you who are spiritual by office and designation, of a spiritual calling, and spiritual employment; you who have the Spirit of the Lord Jesus, and minister the Spirit of God, you are more eminently spiritual; you have the Spirit in graces and in powers, in sanctification and abilities, in office and in person; the 'unction from above' hath descended upon your heads and upon your hearts; you are κar' Coxu, by way of eminency and prelation, 'spiritual men.' 'All the people of God were holy;' Corah and his company were in the right so fare; but yet Moses and Aaron were more holy, and stood nearer to God. All the people are prophets: it is now more than Moses' wish, for the Spirit of Christ hath made them so. any man prayeth or prophesieth with his head covered," or "if any woman prophesieth with her head uncovered," they are dishonoured; but either man or woman may do that work in time and place; for "in the latter days I will pour out of My spirit, and your daughters shall prophesy:" and yet God hath appointed in His church prophets above these, to whose spirit all the other prophets are subject; and as God said to Aaron and Miriams concerning Moses, "To you I am known in a dream or a vision, but to Moses I speak face to face;" so it is in the church, God gives of His spirit to all men, but you He hath made the ministers of His spirit. Nay, the people have their portion of the keys of the kingdom of heaven, so said S. Paul", "to whom ye forgive any thing, to him I forgive also;" and to the whole church of Corinth he gave a commission, in the name of Christ, and by his spirit, to deliver the incestuous person unto Satan; and when the primitive penitents stood in their penitential stations, they did caris Dei adgeniculari, et toti populo legationem orationis suæ commendarei; and yet the keys were not "If [Gal. vi. 1.] [Num. xvi. 3.] [Joel ii. 28.] [vid. Tert. de poenit. ix.] only promised, but given to the apostles to be used then, and transmitted to all generations of the church; and we are 'ministers of Christ, and stewards of the manifold mysteries of God;' and 'to us is committed the word of reconciliation.' And thus in the consecration of the mysterious sacrament, the people have their portion; for the bishop or the priest blesses, and the people by saying Amen' to the mystic prayer is partaker of the power, and the whole church hath a share in the power of spiritual sacrifice; 'ye are a royal priesthood,' 'kings and priests unto God';' that is, so ye are priests as ye are kings; but yet kings and priests have a glory conveyed to them, of which the people partake but in minority, and allegory, and improper communication: but you are, and are to be respectively that considerable part of mankind by whom God intends to plant holiness in the world; by you God means to reign in the hearts of men; and g. you are to be the first in this kind, and consequently the measure of all the rest. To you g. I intend this, and some following discourses in order to this purpose; I shall but now lay the first stone, but it is the corner stone in this foundation. But to you, I say, of the clergy, these things are spoken properly; to you these powers are conveyed really; upon you God hath poured His spirit plentifully; you are the choicest of His choice, the elect of His election, a church picked out of the church, vessels of honour for your Master's use, appointed to teach others, authorized to bless in His name; you are the ministers of Christ's priesthood, underlabourers in the great work of mediation and intercession, medii inter Deum et populum, you are for the people towards God,' and convey answers and messages from God to the people. These things I speak, not only to magnify your office, but to enforce and heighten your duty; you are holy by office and designation; for your very appointment is a sanctification and a consecration, and g. whatever holiness God requires of the people, who have some little portions in the priesthood evangelical, He expects it of you, and much greater, to whom He hath conveyed so great honours, and admitted so near unto Himself, and hath made to be the great ministers of His kingdom and His spirit: and now as Moses said to the levitical schismatics, Corah and his company, so I may say to you, "Seemeth it but a small thing unto you that the God of Israel hath separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you to Himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of the Lord, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them? And He hath brought thee near to Him." Certainly if of every one of the christian congregation God expects a holiness that mingles with no unclean thing; if God will not suffer of them a lukewarm and an indifferent service, but requires zeal of His glory, and that which S. Paul calls the óvos ris àyámns, the labour of love; if He will have them to be without [vid. 1 Cor. iv. 1.] [2 Cor. v. 19.] in [Exod. xviii. 19.] [1 Pet. ii. 9; Rev. i. 6; v. 10.] [Num. xvi. 9.] spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; if He will not endure any pollution in their flesh or spirit; if He requires that their bodies, and souls, and spirits be kept blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus; if He accepts of none of the people unless they have within them the conjugation of all christian graces; if He calls on them to abound in every grace, and that in all the periods of their progression unto the ends of their lives, and to the consummation and perfection of grace; if He hath made them lights in the world, and the salt of the earth, to enlighten others by their good example, and to teach them and invite them by holy discourses, and wise counsels, and speech seasoned with salt; what is it think ye, or with what words is it possible to express what God requires of you? They are to be examples of good life to one another, but you are to be examples even of the examples themselves; that's your duty, that's the purpose of God, and that's the design of my text, that "in all things ye shew yourselves a pattern of good works; in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, sound speech that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you." Here then is, 1. Your duty. 2. The degrees and excellency of your duty. The DUTY is double, 1. Holiness of Life. 2. Integrity of doctrine. Both these have their heightenings in several degrees. I. For your life and conversation, 1. It ought not only to be good, not only to be holy, but to be so up to the degrees of an excellent example; ye must be a pattern.' 2. Ye must be patterns, not only of knowledge and wisdom, not of contemplation and skill in mysteries, not of unprofitable notions, and ineffective wit and eloquence; but of something that is more profitable, of something that may do good, something by which mankind shall be better; of something that shall contribute to the felicity and comfort of the world; 'a pattern of good works.' 3. It must not be a Túños, a type or pattern to be hidden or laid in tabernacles, like those images of Molech and Remphan, which the Spirit of God in the Old testament P calls nie nie, succoth benoth, little repositories or boots to hide their images and patterns of their god; but mapexóμevos тÚTOV, you must be exhibited and shewn forth, brought forth into action and visibility and notorious observation. 4. There is also another duty and mystery in this word; for Molech and Remphan they were patterns and figures, but they were TÚTO OUS ÉTOIσavro, patterns which the people made;' but to Titus S. Paul commanded that he himself should be παρεχόμενος τύπου, he should give a pattern' to the people; that is, the ministers of Christ must not be framed according to the people's humour, they [Acts vii. 43.] "[lege, 'booths.'] 0 P [2 Kings xvii. 30.] must not give him rules, nor describe his measures; but he should be a rule to them; he is neither to live with them so as to please their humours, or to preach doctrines Populo ut placerent quas fecissent fabulas"; but the people are to require the doctrine at his mouth, and he is to become exemplar to them according to the pattern seen in the mount, according to the laws of the religion and the example of Christ. 5. It must be ev naσw, he must be a pattern in all things: it is not enough that the minister be a loving person, a good neighbourly man, that he be hospitable, that he be not litigious, that he be harmless, and that he be diligent; but in every grace he must præferre facem, hold a torch, and shew himself a light in all the commands of God. These are the measures of his holiness, the pattern in his life and conversation. II. Secondly, integrity of doctrine.-The matter of the doctrine you are to preach hath in it four qualifications. 1. It must be adiáp0opos, 'incorrupt;' that is, it must be kar ȧvaλoyiav TíσTews, it must be according to the analogy of faith,' no heretical mixtures, pure truths of God. 2. It must be oeuvòs, grave,' and clean, and chaste; that is, avev pλvapías, no vain and empty notions,' little contentions, and pitiful disputes; but becoming the wisdom of the guides of souls and the ministers of Christ: and 3. It must be vyins, 'sound' speech, so we read it; the word properly signifies salutary and wholesome; that is, such as is apt for edification, εἰς οἰκοδομὴν πίστεως καὶ ἀγάπης, 'for the building men up in a most holy faith, and a more excellent charity; not feeding the people with husks and draffe, with colocynths and gourds, with gay tulips and useless daffodils, but with the bread of life, and medicinal plants springing from the margin of the fountains of salvation. This is the matter of their doctrine; and this also hath some heightenings, and excellencies, and extraordinaries: for, 4. It must be ȧkatáyvwσtos, so evidently demonstrated that no man shall be able to reprove it, so certainly holy that no man shall be willing to condemn it and 5. It must be ap¤apros, sincere, not polluted with foul intentions and little devices of secular interests, complying with the lusts of the potent or the humours of the time; not biassed by partiality, or bending in the flexures of human policy: it must be so conducted that your very enemies, schismatics and heretics and all sorts of gainsayers, may see that you intend God's glory and the good of souls; and g. that as they can say nothing against the doctrine delivered, so neither shall they find fault with him that delivers it: and he that observes all this will indeed be a pattern both of life and doctrine, both of good words and good works. r [Terent. Andr. prolog. 3.] [So p. 84 above.] |