03. CHAPTER 2 – THE OVERSIGHT OF THE FLOCK

CHAPTER 2 – THE OVERSIGHT OF THE FLOCK SECTION 1 – THE NATURE OF THIS OVERSIGHT

Having shown you what it is to take heed to ourselves, I am to show you, next, what it means to “take heed to all the flock.”83

It was first necessary to take into consideration what we must be, and what we must do for our own souls, before we come to what must be done for others: “One cannot succeed in healing the wounds of others if he is unhealed himself by reason of neglecting himself. He benefits neither his neighbors nor himself. He does not raise up others, but falls himself.” Indeed, all his labors come to nothing, unless his heart and life are what performs them. For there are some people who, though expert in spiritual ministry, are headstrong in their ways; while acting intelligently, they tread underfoot any good they do. They teach too hurriedly what can only be rendered holy by meditation; and what they proclaim in public they impugn by their conduct. This is where, as pastors, they walk in paths that are too rugged for the flock to follow. When we have led them to the living waters, if we muddy it by our filthy lives, we may lose our labor, and they may never be the better for it. Before we speak of the work itself, we will note what is pre-supposed in the words before us.

It is implied here that every flock should have its own pastor, and every pastor his own flock. As every troop or company in a regiment of soldiers must have its own captain and other officers, and every soldier knows his own commander and colors, so it is the will of God that every church should have its own pastor, and that all Christ’s disciples “should know their teachers that are over them in the Lord.”84 Though a minister is an officer in the universal Church, yet is he in a special manner the overseer of that particular church which is committed to his charge. When we are ordained ministers without a special charge, we are licensed and commanded to do our best for all, as we have opportunity to exercise of our gifts. But when we have undertaken a particular charge, we restrain the exercise of our gifts to that congregation in particular, so that we must allow others no more than can spared of our time and help, except where the public good requires it (which, no doubt, must be regarded first). From this relation of pastor and flock, arise all the duties which they mutually owe to each other. When we are commanded to take heed to all the flock, it is plainly implied that flocks must ordinarily be no greater than we are capable of overseeing or “taking heed to.” God will not lay upon us natural impossibilities: he will not bind men to leap up to the moon, touch the stars, or number the sands of the sea. If the pastoral office consists in overseeing all the flock, then surely the number of souls under the care of each pastor must not be greater than he is able to take heed to as required here. Will God require one bishop to take the charge of a whole county, or of so many parishes or thousands of souls, that he is not able to know or oversee them? Or indeed to take sole government of them, while their particular teachers are free from that undertaking? Would God require the blood of so many parishes at one man’s hands, if he does not do what ten, or twenty, or a hundred, or three hundred men could no more do than him? If so, I can move a mountain. Then woe to poor prelates!85 Is it not, then, a most doleful case, that learned, sober men would plead for this as a desirable privilege; that they would willfully draw onto themselves such a burden; and that they do not instead tremble at the thought of so great an undertaking? How happy it would have been for the Church, and happy for the bishops themselves, if this measure, intimated by the apostle here, had still been observed: that the diocese be no greater than the elders or bishops could oversee and rule, so that they might have taken heed to all the flock; or that pastors had been multiplied as churches increased, and the number of overseers been proportioned to the number of souls. Then they might not have left the work undone while they assumed empty titles, and undertook impossibilities! And rather that they had prayed the Lord of the harvest to send forth more laborers, proportioned to the work, and not undertaken it all themselves. I would scarcely commend the prudence or humility of a laborer, however great his rank, who would not only undertake to gather in all the harvest in this county by himself, and do so upon pain of death, even damnation, but who would also earnestly contend for this power.

But, it may be said, there are others to teach, though only one has the rule. To this I answer: Blessed be God, it is so; and no thanks to some of them. But is government not of great concern to the good of our souls, as well as preaching? If it is not, then what use is there for church governors? If it is, then those who nullify it by undertaking impossibilities, set about to ruin the churches and themselves. If only preaching is necessary, let us have only preachers: what need is there then for making such a stir about government? But if discipline, in its place, is necessary too, then what is it but enmity to men’s salvation to exclude it? And it is unavoidably excluded when it is made someone’s work that is naturally incapable of performing it. The general who would command an army alone, may as well say, “Let it be destroyed for want of command;” and the schoolmaster who will oversee or govern all the schools in the county alone, may as well say, “Let them all be ungoverned;” and the physician who will undertake the care of all the sick people in a whole nation, or a county, when he is not able to visit a hundredth of them, may as well say, “Let them perish.” Yet it must still be acknowledged, that in case of necessity, where no more are to be had, one man may undertake the charge of more souls than he is well able to oversee individually. But then he must undertake only to do what he can for them, and not to do all that a pastor ordinarily ought to do. This is the case of some of us who have greater parishes than we are able to take that special heed which their state requires. I profess for my own part, I am so far from the boldness of those who dare to venture on the sole government of a county, that I would not, for all England, have undertaken to be one of the two that should do all the pastoral work that God requires in the parish where I live. I did it because I had this to satisfy my conscience: that because of the Church’s necessities, more cannot be had; and therefore I must do what I can, rather than leave all undone, simply because I cannot do it all. But cases of unavoidable necessity are not the ordinary condition of the Church; or at least, it is not desirable that it would be. O happy Church of Christ, if only the laborers were able and faithful, and proportioned in number to the number of souls; so that the pastors were so many, or the particular churches so small, that we might be able to “take heed to all the flock.” Having noticed these things which are presupposed, we will now proceed to consider the duty which is recommended in the text: take heed to all the flock.

It is, you see, all the flock, that is, every individual member of our charge. To this end, it is necessary to know every person that belongs to our charge; for how can we take heed to them if we do not know them? We must labor to be acquainted, not only with the persons, but with the state of all our people, with their inclinations and conversations. What sins are they are most in danger of? What duties are they most apt to neglect? What temptations are they most liable to? For if we do not know their temperament or disease, then we are not likely to prove successful physicians. Being thus acquainted with all the flock, we must afterward take heed to them. One would imagine that every reasonable man would be satisfied of this, and that it would need no further proof. Does a careful shepherd not look after every individual sheep; and a good schoolmaster after every individual scholar; and a good physician after every particular patient; and a good commander after every individual soldier? Why then should the shepherds, teachers, physicians, and guides of the churches of Christ, not take heed to every individual member of their charge? Christ himself, the great and good Shepherd, who has the whole flock to look after, yet takes care of every individual. He is like the one whom he describes in the parable, who left “the ninety and nine sheep in the wilderness, to seek after one that was lost.”86 The prophets were often sent to single men. Ezekiel was made a watchman over individuals, and was commanded to say to the wicked, “You will surely die.”87 Paul taught his hearers not only “publicly but from house to house.”88 And in another place he tells us that he “warned every man, and taught every man, in all wisdom, that he might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”89 Many other passages of Scripture make it evident that it is our duty to take heed to every individual of our flock; and many passages in the ancient Councils plainly show that this was the practice in primitive times. But I will only quote one from Ignatius: “Let assemblies,” he says, “be gathered often; inquire after all by name: do not ignore servant-men or maids.”

You see it was then considered a duty to look after every member of the flock by name, not excepting the lowest servant-man or maid. But, someone may object, “The congregation that I am set over is so great that it is impossible for me to know them all, much less take heed to all individually.” To this I answer, “Is it, or is it not, necessity that has thrown you upon such a charge? If it is not, then you excuse one sin by another. How dare you undertake what you knew you were unable to perform, and when you were not forced to do it? It would seem you had some other ends in undertaking it, and never intended to be faithful to your trust. But if you think that necessity forced you to undertake it, then I would ask you, might you not have procured assistance for so great a charge? Have you done all that you could with your friends and neighbors, to pay for another to help you? Do you not have enough income for yourself, that it might serve both yourself and another, even though it will not serve to keep you in wealth? Is it not more reasonable that you should pinch your flesh and family, than undertake a work that you cannot perform, and neglect the souls of so many of your flock? I know that what I say will seem hard to some, but to me it is an unquestionable thing: if you have but a hundred pounds a year, it is your duty to live on part of it, and put the rest toward a competent assistant, rather than neglect the flock which you are over. If you say, that is a hard measure, and that your wife and children cannot live this way, I answer, “Do not many families in your parish live on less?”90 Have not many able ministers in the prelates’ days been glad of less, with the liberty to preach the gospel? There are some yet living, I have heard, who have offered to have the bishops enter into bond to preach for nothing, if they might only have liberty to preach the gospel.91 If you still say that you cannot live so meagerly as poor people do, I further ask, “Can your parishioners better endure damnation, than you can endure want and poverty?” What! Do you call yourselves ministers of the gospel, and yet the souls of men are so base in your eyes, that you would rather they eternally perish, than you and your family live in a lowly and poor condition? No, wouldn’t you rather beg for your bread than put so great a matter as men’s salvation at risk or disadvantage? Indeed, to risk the damnation of only one soul? O sirs, it is a miserable thing when men study and talk of heaven and hell, and how few are saved, and the difficulty of salvation, and all the while not be in earnest about it. If you were, surely you could never hesitate at such matters as these, and let your people go down to hell so that you might live in higher style in this world. Remember this, the next time you are preaching to them, that they cannot be saved without knowledge; and listen whether your conscience doesn’t tell you, “It is likely they might be brought to knowledge if they only had diligent instruction and exhortation, privately, man to man; and if there were another minister to assist me, this might be done: and if I would live sparingly and deny my flesh, I might have an assistant. Dare I, then, let my people live in that ignorance which I myself have told them is damning, rather than put myself and my family to a little want?”

Must I turn to my Bible to show a preacher where it is written that a man’s soul is worth more than a world,92 much more therefore than a hundred pounds a year; and are not many souls worth much more? Both we and all that we have are God’s, and we should be employed to the utmost for his service. It is inhuman cruelty to let souls go to hell for fear my wife and children should fare somewhat worse, or live at lower income; when, according to God’s ordinary way of working by means, I might do much to prevent their misery, if I would only displease my flesh a little, which all who are Christ’s have crucified along with its lusts. Every man must render to God the things that are God’s, and let each remember that this includes all he is and all he possesses. How are all things sanctified to us, except by separating and dedicating them to God? Are they not all his talents, and must they not be employed in his service? Must not every Christian first ask, “In what way may I most honor God with my substance?” Do we not preach these things to our people? Are they true for them, and not for us? Moreover, is not the church-maintenance devoted, in a special way, to the service of God for the church? And should we not then use it for the utmost furtherance of that end? If any minister who has two hundred pounds a year, can prove that a hundred pounds of it may do God more service if it is laid out on himself, his wife, and children, than if it maintains one or two suitable assistants to help forward the salvation of the flock, then I will not presume to reprove his expenses. But where this cannot be proved, do not let the practice be justified. And I must further say that this poverty is not so intolerable and dangerous a thing as it is pretended to be. If you have but food and clothing, must you not be content with them? 93 And what would you have more than what may fit you for the work of God? It is not “being clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day,”94 that is necessary for this end. “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things that he possesses.”95 If your clothing is warm, and your food is wholesome, you may be as well-supported by it to do God service as if you had the fullest satisfaction of your flesh. A patched coat may be warm, and bread and water are wholesome food. Someone who does not want these, has a poor excuse to risk men’s souls so that he may live on dainties.

But, while it is our duty to take heed to all the flock, we must pay special attention to some classes of people in particular. This is imperfectly understood by many, and therefore I will dwell upon it a little.

1. We must labor, in a special way, for the conversion of the unconverted. The work of conversion is the first and great thing that we must drive at; we must labor at it with all our might. Alas! The misery of the unconverted is so great, that it calls loudest to us for compassion. If a truly converted sinner falls, it will only be into sin, which will be pardoned, and it does not put him at that same risk of damnation as others. It not that God does not hate their sins as much as the sins of others, or that he will bring them to heaven to let them live wickedly; but the spirit that is within them will not allow them to live wickedly, nor to sin as the ungodly do. But with the unconverted, it is far otherwise. They “are in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity,”96 and have still have no part or fellowship in the pardon of their sins, or in the hope of glory. Therefore, we have a work of greater necessity towards them, “to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and an inheritance among those who are sanctified.”97 Someone who sees one man sick of a mortal disease, and another only pained with the toothache, will be moved with more compassion towards the former than the latter; he will surely be quicker to help him, even though he is a stranger and the other a brother or a son. It is so sad a case to see men in a state of damnation in which, if they should die, they are lost forever, that I think we should not be able to leave them alone, either in public or private, whatever other work we may have to do. I confess, I am frequently forced to neglect what would further increase knowledge in the godly, because of the lamentable necessity of the unconverted. Who is able to talk of controversies, or of nice but unnecessary points, or even of truths of a lower degree of necessity, however excellent they may be, while he sees a company of ignorant, carnal, miserable sinners before his eyes, men who must be changed or damned? I think I even see them entering their final woe! I think I hear them crying out for help, for speediest help! Their misery speaks louder, because they do not have hearts to ask for themselves. I have known many a time that I had some who would listen to fantasies, look for rarities, and were addicted to ignoring the ministry, unless I told them something extraordinary; and yet I could not find it in my heart to turn from the needs of the impenitent to humor them; I would not leave speaking to miserable sinners for their salvation, in order to speak to those seeking novelties, or even to weak saints, even though it was for their confirmation and increase in grace. I think, as Paul’s “spirit was stirred within him, when he saw the Athenians wholly given to idolatry,”98 so it should throw us into one of his paroxysms,99 to see so many men in the utmost danger of being eternally undone. I think if, by faith, we indeed saw them within a step of hell, it would untie our tongues more effectually than danger untied the tongue of Croesus’ son.100 One who would let a sinner go down to hell for want of speaking to him, cares less for souls than the Redeemer of souls; and less for his neighbor than common charity would demand for his greatest enemy. O, therefore, brothers, whomever you neglect, do not neglect the most miserable! Whatever else you may pass over, do not forget poor souls who are under the condemnation and curse of the law, and who every hour may expect the infernal execution101 unless a speedy change prevents it. O call after the impenitent, and ply102 this great work of converting souls, whatever else you leave undone.

2. We must be ready to give advice to inquirers, who come to us with cases of conscience; especially the great case which the Jews put to Peter, and the jailer to Paul and Silas, “What must we do to be saved?” A minister is not to be merely a public preacher, but to be known as a counselor for their souls, just as the physician is for their bodies, and the lawyer for their estates. Each man who is in doubts and difficulties, may bring his case to him for resolution, just as Nicodemus came to Christ, and as the people of old usually went to the priest, “whose lips must keep knowledge, and from whose mouth they must ask the law, because he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.”103 But because the people have become unacquainted with this office of the ministry, and with their own duty and necessity in this respect, it belongs to us to acquaint them with it, and to publicly to press them to come to us for advice about the great concerns of their souls. We must not only be willing to take the trouble, but we should draw it upon ourselves by inviting them to come. What an abundance of good might we do if we could only bring them to this! And, doubtless, much might be done by it if we did our duty. How few I ever heard of who heartily pressed their people to their duty in this way! Oh! It is a sad case that men’s souls should be so injured and placed at risk by the total neglect of so great a duty, and that ministers hardly ever tell them of it, and awaken them to it. If only your listeners were duly informed of the need and importance of this, you would have them knocking at your doors more frequently, and making known to you their sad complaints, and begging for your advice. I beg you, then, press them more to this duty for the future; and see that you perform it carefully when they do seek your help. To this end it is very necessary that you be well-acquainted with practical cases, and especially that you be acquainted with the nature of saving grace, and thus be able to assist them in testing their condition, and in resolving the main question that concerns their everlasting life, or death. One word of seasonable, prudent advice, given by a minister to people in need, may be more useful than many sermons. “A word fitly spoken,” says Solomon, “how good is it!”104

3. We must study to build up those who are truly converted already. In this respect, our work varies according to the various states of Christians.

(1) There are many of our flock who are young and weak, and who still have little proficiency or strength, even though long-standing Christians. This, indeed, is the most common condition of the godly. Most of them content themselves with low degrees of grace; and it is no easy matter to get them higher degrees. It is easy enough to bring them from the truth to higher and more rigid opinions of error; this they do left and right. But to increase their knowledge and their gifts is not easy; and to increase their graces is the hardest of all.105 It is a very sad thing for Christians to be weak: it exposes us to dangers; it abates our consolations and our delight in God; it takes away the sweetness of wisdom’s ways; it makes us less serviceable to God and to man, which brings less honor to our Master, and does less good to all those around us. We get small benefit in the use of the means of grace.106 We too easily play with the serpent’s baits, and are ensnared by his wiles. A seducer will easily shake us: evil may appear as good to us, truth as falsehood, sin as duty, and so on. We are less able to resist and stand in an encounter; we fall sooner; we rise harder; and we are more apt to be a scandal and reproach to our profession. We know ourselves less, and are more apt to be mistaken as to our own estate, not observing corruptions when they have gained an advantage on us. We are dishonorable to the gospel by our very weakness, and of little use to those about us. In a word, though we live less profitably to ourselves or others, yet are we too unwilling and unready to die.107

Now, seeing that the case of weakness in the converted is so sad, we should be diligent to cherish and increase their grace! The strength of Christians is the honor of the Church. They are to be inflamed with the love of God; and live by a lively working faith; and take lightly the profits and honors of the world; and love one another fervently with a pure heart; and bear and heartily forgive a wrong, and suffer joyfully for the cause of Christ; and study to do good, and walk inoffensively and harmlessly in the world; and ready to be servants to all men for their good; and become all things to all men in order to win them to Christ; and yet abstain from the appearance of evil, and season all their actions with a sweet mixture of prudence, humility, zeal, and heavenly mindedness – oh, when they do these things, what an honor they are to their profession! What an ornament they are to the Church; and how serviceable they are to God and man! Men would sooner believe that the gospel is from heaven, if they saw more of these effects on the hearts and lives of those who profess it. The world is better able to read the nature of religion in a man’s life than in the Bible. “Those who are not persuaded by the word, may be won by the conduct”108 of those who are outstanding in godliness. It is therefore a most important part of our work to labor more in polishing and perfecting the saints, so that they may be strong in the Lord, and fitted for their Master’s service.

(2) Another class of converts that needs our special help is those who labor under some particular corruption which stays beneath their graces, making them trouble to others, and a burden to themselves. Alas! There are too many such persons. Some are specially addicted to pride, and others to worldly-mindedness; some to sensual desires, and others to waywardness, or other evil passions. Now, it is our duty to give assistance to all these; partly we do it by dissuasions, and by clearly exposing the odiousness of the sin; and partly we do it by suitable directions about the remedy, to help them more completely conquer their corruptions. We are leaders of Christ’s army against the powers of hell; we must resist all the works of darkness wherever we find them, even in the children of light. We must be no more tender toward the sins of the godly than we are of the ungodly; nor befriend or favor them any more than the ungodly. The more we love them, the more we must show it by opposing their sins. And yet we must expect to meet with some sensitive people in this, especially when iniquity has made some headway, and made a faction, and many have fallen in love with it; they will be as pettish and as impatient of reproof as some men who are worse off, and perhaps they will assert piety in their faults. But the ministers of Christ must do their duty, notwithstanding their peevishness; and must not hate their brother by forbearing rebuke, or by allowing sin to lie upon his soul. It must be done with much prudence, no doubt; yet it must be done.

(3) Another class that demands special help is declining Christians, who have either fallen into some scandalous sin, or else have abated their zeal and diligence, and show that they have lost their former love.109 As the case of backsliders is very sad, so our diligence must be very great for their recovery. It is sad for them to lose so much of their life, and peace, and serviceableness to God; and to become so serviceable to Satan and his cause. It is sad for us to see that all our labor is come to this; and that, when we have taken so many pains with them, and have had so many hopes for them, that all should be so far frustrated. It is saddest of all to think that God should be so dishonored by those whom he has so loved, and for whom he has done so much; and that Christ should be so wounded in the house of his friends. Besides that, partial backsliding has a natural tendency toward total apostasy; and it would effect it if special grace did not prevent it. Now, the more sad the case is of such Christians, the more we must exert ourselves for their recovery. We must “restore those who are overtaken in a fault, in the spirit of gentleness,”110 and yet we must see that the sore is thoroughly examined and healed, and that the joint is well set again, whatever pain it may cost. We must look especially to the honor of the gospel, and see that they give such evidence of true repentance, and make such a free and full confession of their sin, that thereby some reparation is made to the Church, and to their holy profession, for the wound they have given to religion. Much skill is required for restoring such a soul.

(4) The last class I will note here as requiring our attention, is the strong; for they also have need of our assistance: partly to preserve the grace they have; partly to help them in making further progress; and partly to direct them in improving their strength, for the service of Christ and the assistance of their brothers; and also to encourage them to persevere, so that they may receive the crown.

All these are the objects of the ministerial work, and in respect to each of them, we must “take heed to all the flock.”

4. We must keep a special eye on families to see they are well-ordered, and that the duties of each relation are performed. The life of religion, and the welfare and glory of both the Church and the State, greatly depend on family government and duty. If we allow it to be neglected, we will undo everything. What are we likely to do ourselves in reforming a congregation, if all the work is thrown on us alone, and if heads of families neglect their own necessary duty, by which they are bound to help us? If any good is begun in some soul by the ministry, then a careless, prayerless, worldly family is likely to stifle it, or very much hinder it; whereas, if you could only get the rulers of families to do their duty, taking up the work where you left it and helping it on, then what an abundance of good might be done! I beg you, therefore, if you desire the reformation and welfare of your people, do all you can to promote family religion. To this end, let me entreat you to attend to the following things:

(1) Get information about how each family is ordered, so that you may know how to proceed in your endeavors for their further good.

(2) Go among them occasionally, when they are most likely to be at leisure, and ask the head of the family whether he prays with them, and reads the Scripture, or what he does? Labor to convince those who neglect these things of their sin; and if you have an opportunity, pray with them before you go: give them an example of what you would have them do. Perhaps, too, it might do well to get a promise from them, that they will be more conscientious about their duty in the future.

(3) If you find any who, through ignorance and lack of practice, are unable to pray, then persuade them to study their own deficiencies, and get their hearts burdened with them; in the meantime, advise them to use rote prayer, rather than not pray at all. Tell them, however, that it is to their sin and shame that they have lived so negligently as to be unacquainted with their own needs, and do not know how to speak to God in prayer, when every beggar can find words to ask for alms. Therefore, rote prayer is only done out of necessity, like a crutch is given to a cripple only as long they cannot do well without it; but they must resolve not to be content with it, but to learn to do better as quickly as possible, since prayer should come from the feelings of the heart, and vary according to our needs and circumstances.

(4) See that in every family there are some useful and moving books, besides the Bible. If they have none, persuade them to buy some: if they are not able to buy them, give them some, if you can. If you are not able yourself, get some gentlemen, or other rich persons who are ready to good works, to do it. And engage them to read them at night, when they have leisure, and especially on the Lord’s Day.

(5) Direct them how to spend the Lord’s day; how to finish their worldly business in a timely manner so as to prevent encumbrances and distractions; and when they have been at church, how to spend the time in their families. The life of religion greatly depends on this, because poor people have no other free time; and, therefore, if they lose this, they lose everything; they will remain ignorant and fleshly. Persuade the head of every family to make his children and servants repeat the Catechism to him every Sabbath evening, and give him some account of what they have heard at church during the day. I beg you, do not neglect this important part of your work. Get heads of families to do their duty, and they will not only spare you a great deal of labor, but they will greatly further the success of your labors. If a captain can get the officers under him to do their duty, he may rule the soldiers with much less trouble than if all is laid on his own shoulders. You are not likely to see any general reformation until you procure family reformation. There may be a little religion here and there; but while it is confined to individuals and not promoted in families, it will not prosper, nor will it promise much future increase.

5. We must be diligent in visiting the sick, and helping them prepare either for a fruitful life, or a happy death. Though this should be the business of our whole life and theirs, yet at such a time it requires extraordinary care of both them and us. When time is almost gone, and they must be reconciled to God, now or never, oh, how it concerns them to redeem those hours, and to lay hold on eternal life! And when we see that we are likely to have but a few days or hours more to speak to them of their everlasting welfare, who but a blockhead or an infidel would not be with them extensively, and do all he can for their salvation in that short space of time? Will it not awaken us to compassion, to look on a languishing man, and to think that within a few days his soul will be in heaven or in hell? Surely it will test the faith and seriousness of ministers to be around dying men much! They will thus have an opportunity to discern whether they themselves are in good earnest about the matters of the life to come. So great is the change that is made by death, that it should awaken us to the greatest sensibility to see a man so near it, and it should excite in us the deepest pangs of compassion, to do the office of inferior angels for the soul, before it departs from the body, so that it may be ready for the convoy of superior angels to the “inheritance of the saints in light.”111 When a man is almost at his journey’s end, and the next step brings him to heaven or hell, it is time for us, while there is hope, to help him if we can. And as their present necessity should move us to embrace that opportunity for their good, so should the advantage that sickness and the prospect of death affords. Even the stoutest sinners will hear us on their death-bed, even though they scorned us before. They will then let go of their fury, and be as gentle as lambs, those who were before as intractable as lions. I do not find one in ten of the most obstinate, scornful wretches in my parish, when they come to die, will not humble themselves, confess their faults, and appear penitent; and they promise, if they should recover, to reform their lives. Cyprian says to those in health, “He who reminds himself every day that he is dying, despises the present and hastens toward the things to come: much more the one who feels himself to be in the very act of dying.” O how resolvedly will the worst of sinners seem to cast away their sins and promise reformation, and cry out of their folly, and of the vanity of this world, when they see that death is in good earnest with them; and away they must go without delay! Perhaps you will say that these forced changes are not sincere, and that, therefore, we have no great hope of doing them any saving good. I confess it is very common for sinners to be frightened into ineffectual purposes; but it is not so common to be converted to the Savior at such a time. Augustine remarks, “He cannot die badly who lives well; and scarcely will he die well who lives badly.”112 Yet “scarcely” and “never” are not the same thing. It should make both them and us be more diligent in times of health, because it is “scarcely”; but still, we should rouse ourselves at the last to use the best remedies, because it is not “never”. But because I do not intend to furnish a directory for the whole ministerial work, I will not stop to tell you specifically what must be done for men in their last extremity; but I will note only three or four things especially worthy of your attention.

(1) Do not wait until their strength and understanding are gone, and the time is so short that you scarcely know what to do; but go to them as soon as you hear they are sick, whether they send for you or not.

(2) When the time is so short that there is no opportunity to instruct them in the principles of religion in an orderly way, be sure to ply the main points, and dwell on those truths most calculated to promote their conversion, showing them the glory of the life to come, and the way by which it was purchased for us, and the great sin and folly of having neglected it when they were healthy; yet the possibility remains of their obtaining it, if they will believe in Christ, the only Savior, and repent of their sins.

(3) If they recover, be sure to remind them of their promises and resolutions during their sickness. Go to them purposely to drive these home to their consciences; and whenever you see them remiss afterwards, go to them, and remind them what they said when they were stretched on a sick-bed. And because it is of such use to those who recover, and it has been the means of the conversion of many a soul, it is very necessary that you go to those whose sickness is not mortal, as well as to those who are dying, so that you may have some advantage in moving them to repentance, and so that afterward you may have this to plead against their sins. A bishop of Cologne is said to have answered the Emperor Sigismund,113 when he asked him what he must do to be saved, “He must be what he purposed, or promised to be, when he was last troubled with the stone and the gout.”

6. We must reprove and admonish those who live offensively or impenitently. Before we bring such matters before the church, or its rulers, it is ordinarily most fit for the minister to see what he can do himself in private to bow the sinner to repentance, especially if it is not a public crime. Much skill is required here, and a difference must be made according to the various personalities of the offenders; but with most, it will be necessary to speak with the greatest plainness and power, to shake their careless hearts, and to make them see what it means to dally with sin; to let them know the evil of it, and of its sad effects as regards both God and themselves.

7. The last part of our oversight which I will note, consists in the exercise of Church discipline. This consists, after prior private reproofs, in more public reproof combined with an exhortation to repentance, in prayer for the offender, in restoring the penitent, and in excluding and avoiding the impenitent.114

(1) In the case of public offenses, and even those of a more private nature, when the offender remains impenitent, he must be reproved before everyone, and again invited to repentance. This is no less our duty just because we have not been conscientious to practice it. It is not only Christ’s command to tell the church, but Paul’s to “rebuke before all;”115 and the Church constantly practiced it, until selfishness and formality caused them to be remiss in this and other duties. There is no room to doubt whether this is our duty, and there is just as little room to doubt whether we have been unfaithful to perform it. Many of us, who would be ashamed to omit preaching or praying half so much, have little considered what we were doing by living in the willful neglect of this duty, and of other parts of discipline, for as long as we have. We think little of how we have drawn the guilt of swearing, and drunkenness, and fornication, and other crimes upon our own heads, by neglecting to use the means which God has appointed to cure them.

If anyone says, “There is little likelihood that public reproof will do them good; they will instead be enraged by the shame of it”, then I answer –

[a] It ill becomes a creature to plead that the ordinances of God are useless, or to reproach God’s service instead of doing it, and to set his wits in opposition to his Maker. God can render useful his own ordinances, or else he would never have appointed them.

[b] The usefulness of discipline is apparent, in shaming sin and humbling the sinner, and manifesting before all the world the holiness of Christ, and of his doctrine and Church.

[c] What will you do with such sinners? Will you give them up as hopeless? That would be more cruel than administering reproof to them. Will you use other means? All other means have supposedly been used without success; and this is the last remedy.

[d] The principal use of this public discipline is not for the offender himself, but for the Church. Its intent is to strongly deter others from like crimes, and thus keep the congregation and their worship pure. Seneca116 could say, “He who excuses present evils, transmits them to posterity.” And elsewhere he says, “He who spares the guilty harms the good.”

(2) Along with reproof, we must exhort the offender to repent, and to publicly profess it for the satisfaction of the church.117 As the church is bound to avoid communion with impenitent scandalous sinners when they have evidence of their sin, they must also have some evidence of their repentance; for we cannot know they are penitent without evidence; and what evidence can the church have but their profession of repentance, and afterwards their actual reformation. I confess, great prudence must be exercised in such proceedings, lest we do more hurt than good; but it requires the sort of Christian prudence that orders our duties, and suits them to their ends; it must not be carnal prudence that will enervate or exclude them. In performing this duty, we should deal humbly, even when we deal most sharply, and make it apparent that it is not from any ill will, nor any lordly disposition, nor from revenge for any injury; rather, it is a necessary duty which we cannot conscientiously neglect; and, therefore, it may be appropriate to show the people the commands of God which oblige us to do what we do, using words such as the following:

“Brothers, sin is so hateful an evil in the eyes of the most holy God, however light impenitent sinners may make of it, that he has provided the everlasting torments of hell to punish it.; no lesser means can prevent that punishment, than the sacrifice of the Son of God, applied to those who truly repent of and forsake it. And therefore God, who calls all men to repentance, has commanded us to ‘exhort one another daily, while it is called today, lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin,’ (Hebrews 3:13); we do not hate our brother in our heart, but nonetheless, we rebuke our neighbor, and will not permit sin to continue (Leviticus 19:17).118 If our brother offends us, we should tell him his fault between him and us; and if he will not hear us, we should take two or three more with us; and if he will not hear them, we should tell the church; and if he will not hear the church, he must be treated as a heathen and a tax collector, (Matthew 18:15-17); we must rebuke those who sin in front of everyone, so that others may fear, (1 Timothy 5:20); and we rebuke them with all authority: (Titus 2:15). Indeed, if it were an apostle of Christ who sinned openly, he must be reproved openly, just as Paul reproved Peter; (Galatians 2:11; Galatians 2:14); and if they will not repent, then we must avoid them, and not so much as eat with them, (2 Thessalonians 3:6; 2 Thessalonians 3:11-12; 2 Thessalonians 3:14 ; 1 Corinthians 5:11-13). For example:

“Having heard of the scandalous conduct of A. B. of this church, or parish, and having received sufficient proof that he has committed the odious sin of ___, we have seriously dealt with him to bring him to repentance; but to the grief of our hearts, we perceive no satisfactory result of our endeavors; but he still seems to remain impenitent (or he still lives in the same sin, though he verbally professes repentance). We therefore judge it our duty to proceed to use that further remedy which Christ has commanded us to try; and so we beg him, in the name of the Lord, without further delay, to take to heart the greatness of his sin, the wrong he has done to Christ and to himself, and the scandal and grief that he has caused to others. And I earnestly beg him, for the sake of his own soul, that he consider what he can gain by his sin and impenitence, and whether it is worth the loss of everlasting life; and if he is found in this impenitent state when death snatches his soul from his body, how he thinks to stand before God in judgment, or to appear before the Lord Jesus. He will answer the contrary at the bar of God.119 And so, as a messenger of Jesus Christ, I beg him, and for the sake of his own soul, I require him, to lay aside the hardness and impenitency of his heart, and sincerely confess and lament his sin before God and this congregation. I make this desire public, not out of any ill will toward him, as the Lord knows, but in love for his soul, and in obedience to Christ, who has made it my duty; I desire that, if possible, he may be saved from his sin, and from the power of Satan, and from the everlasting wrath of God, and that he may be reconciled to God and to his church; and, therefore, that he may be humbled by true contrition, before he is humbled by a condemnation that has no remedy.”

I conceive that our public admonitions should proceed in such a way. In some cases, where the sinner thinks his sin is small, it may be necessary to point out its aggravations, particularly by citing some passages of Scripture which speak of its evil and its danger.

(3) With these reproofs and exhortations, we must join the prayers of the congregation in behalf of the offender. This should be done in every case of discipline, but particularly if the offender will not be present to receive admonition, or if he gives no evidence of repentance, and shows no desire for the prayers of the congregation. In such cases especially, it would be fitting to beg the prayers of the congregation for him ourselves, entreating them to consider what a fearful condition the impenitent is in, and to have pity on a poor soul who is so blinded and hardened by sin and Satan, that he cannot pity himself; and have them think what it is like for a man to appear before the living God in such a condition. And, therefore, ask that they would join in earnest prayer to God that he would open his eyes, and soften, and humble his stubborn heart, before he is in hell and beyond remedy. Accordingly, let us be very earnest in prayer for him as well, so that the congregation may be affectionately excited to join with us; and who knows but that God may hear our prayers, and the sinner’s heart may relent under them, more than it might under all our exhortations? In my judgment, some churches take a very laudable course, having the congregation join together in earnest prayer to God for the next three days, praying for the opening of the sinner’s eyes, and for the softening of his heart, and for his saving from impenitency and eternal death. If ministers would be conscientious in performing this duty entirely and self-denyingly, they might make something of it, and expect a blessing from it. But when we shrink from all that is dangerous or ungrateful in our work, and put off all that is costly or troublesome, we cannot expect any great good to be effected by such a carnal and partial use of means. Though some may be worked upon here and there, we cannot see that the gospel would operate freely and be glorified when we do our duty so lamely and so defectively.

(4) We must restore the penitent to the fellowship of the church. Just as we must not teach an offender to make light of discipline by too much pliability, so neither must we discourage him by too much severity. If he appears to be truly sensible of the sinfulness of his conduct, and penitent on account of it, we must see that he confesses his guilt, and that he promises to fly from such sins in the future, to watch more narrowly and to walk more warily, to avoid temptation, to distrust his own strength, and to rely on the grace which is in Christ Jesus.

We must assure him of the riches of God’s love, and the sufficiency of Christ’s blood to pardon his sins, if he believes and repents.

We must see that he begs to be restored to the communion of the church, and desires their prayers to God for his pardon and salvation.

We must charge the church to imitate Christ, in forgiving and in retaining the penitent person; or, if he was cast out, in restoring him to their communion; and that they must never reproach him with his sins, nor throw them in his face, but forgive them, even as Christ does. Finally, we must give God thanks for his recovery, and pray for his confirmation and future preservation.

(5) The last part of discipline is to exclude from the communion of the church those who remain impenitent after a sufficient trial.

Exclusion from church communion, commonly called excommunication, has various sorts or degrees, which are not to be confused; but what is most commonly practiced among us is only to remove an impenitent sinner from our communion until it pleases the Lord to give him repentance. In this exclusion or removal, the minister or governors of the church are to authoritatively charge the people, in the name of the Lord, to have no communion with him, and to pronounce him as one whose communion the church is bound to avoid; and it is the people’s duty to carefully avoid him, provided the pastor’s charge does not contradict the Word of God. Nevertheless, we must pray for the repentance and restoration even of the excommunicated; and if God will give them repentance, we must gladly receive them again into the communion of the church.

I wish we were so faithful in the practice of this discipline, that we would be satisfied both with the matter and the manner of it; and that we did not disparage and reproach it by our negligence, while we write and plead for it with the highest commendations! It is worthy of us to consider who is likely to have the heavier charge about this matter at the bar of God: those who have reproached and hindered discipline by their tongues, because they did not know its nature and necessity? Or we who have so vilified it by our constant omission, while we have magnified it with our tongues? If hypocrisy is no sin, or if the knowledge of our Master’s will does not aggravate our disobedience, then we may be in a better case than they. But if these are great evils, then we must be much worse than the very persons whom we so loudly condemn. I would not advise those who zealously support discipline, and those who obstinately neglect it, to unsay all they have said until they are ready to do as they say; nor to recant their defenses of discipline, until they intend to practice it; nor to burn all the books which they have written for it, and all the records of their cost and risks for it, lest these things rise up in judgment against them, to their confusion. But I would persuade them, without any more delay, to conform their practice to these testimonies which they have given, lest the more they are proved to have commended discipline, the more they are proved to have condemned themselves for neglecting it. It has somewhat amazed me to hear some whom I took for reverend, godly divines, who reproach as a sect, the Sacramentarians120 and Disciplinarians. And, when I desired to know whom they meant, they told me they meant those who will not give the sacrament to the whole parish, and those who would make distinctions between parishioners by their discipline. I thought the tempter had obtained a great victory if he had gotten only one godly pastor of a church to neglect discipline, as if he had gotten him to neglect preaching; and much more if he had gotten him to approve of that neglect: but it seems that he has gotten some to scorn at those who perform the very duty which they neglect. I am sure that if it were well understood how much of pastoral authority and its work involves church guidance, it would also be discerned that to be against discipline is akin to being against the ministry; and to be against the ministry is akin to being absolutely against the church; and to be against the church, is akin to being absolutely against Christ. Do not blame the harshness of the inference until you can avoid it, and free yourselves from the charge of it before the Lord.

SECTION 2 – THE MANNER OF THIS OVERSIGHT

Having thus considered the nature of this oversight, we will next speak of the manner of it; not of each part distinctly, lest we be tedious, but of the whole in general.

1. The ministerial work must be carried on purely for God and the salvation of souls, not for any private ends of our own. A wrong end makes all the work bad as being from us, however good it may be in its own nature. It is not serving God, but ourselves, if we do not do it for God, but for ourselves. Those who engage in the ministry as a common work, to make a trade of it for their worldly livelihood, will find that they have chosen a bad trade, although it is good employment. Self-denial is an absolute necessity in every Christian, but it is doubly necessary in a minister; without it, he cannot do God an hour’s faithful service. Hard studies, much knowledge, and excellent preaching, if the ends are not right, are only more glorious ways to sin, hypocritically. Bernard’s saying121 is commonly known:

Some desire to know merely for the sake of knowing, and that is shameful curiosity.

Some desire to know so that they may sell their knowledge, and that too is shameful.

Some desire to know for reputation’s sake, and that is shameful vanity. But there are some who desire to know so that they may edify others, and that is praiseworthy; And there are some who desire to know so that they may be edified themselves, and that is wise.

2. The ministerial work must be carried on diligently and laboriously, because it has such unspeakable consequences for ourselves and others. We are seeking to uphold the world, to save it from the curse of God, to perfect the creation, to attain the ends of Christ’s death, to save ourselves and others from damnation, to overcome the devil and demolish his kingdom, to set up the kingdom of Christ, and to attain and help others to the kingdom of glory. And are these works to be done with a careless mind, or a lazy hand? O see then that this work is done with all your might! Study hard, for the well is deep, and our brains are willows; as Cassiodorus122 says: “Here the common level of knowledge is not to be the limit; here true ambition is demonstrated; the more a deep knowledge is sought after, the greater the honor in attaining it.” But especially be laborious in the practice and exercise of your knowledge. Let Paul’s words ring continually in your ears, “Necessity is laid upon me; indeed, woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”123 Always think to yourselves what lies on your hands: “If I do not motivate myself, Satan may prevail, and people may eternally perish, and their blood will be by my hand. By avoiding labor and suffering, I will draw on myself a thousand times more suffering than I avoid; but by present diligence, I will prepare for future blessedness.” No man was ever a loser by God.

3. The ministerial work must be carried on prudently and orderly. Milk must go before strong meat; the foundation must be laid before we attempt to raise the superstructure. Children must not be dealt with as men of full stature. Men must be brought into a state of grace before we can expect the works of grace from them. The work of conversion, and repentance from dead works, and faith in Christ, must be first, and frequently, and thoroughly taught. We must not ordinarily go beyond the capacities of our people, nor teach perfection to those who have not learned the first principles of religion: for, as Gregory of Nyssa124 says: “We do not teach infants the deep precepts of science, but first letters, and then syllables, etc. So too the guides of the Church first propound to their hearers certain documents which are the elements; and by degrees they open to them the more perfect and mysterious matters.” Therefore the Church took great pains with their catechumens before they baptized them, and would not place unpolished stones into the building.

4. Throughout the whole course of our ministry, we must insist chiefly upon the greatest, most certain, and most necessary truths, and be less frequent and more sparing with the rest. If we can just teach Christ to our people, we will teach them all. If we can get them well to heaven, they will have knowledge enough. The great and commonly acknowledged truths of religion are those that men must live by, and which are the great instruments of destroying men’s sins, and raising their hearts to God. We must, therefore, ever have our people’s needs before our eyes. To remember the “one thing needful”125 will take us off gaudy things and needless ornaments, and unprofitable controversies. Many other things might be desirable to know; but Christ must be known, or else our people are undone forever. I confess, I think necessity should be the great disposer of a minister’s course of study and labor. If we were sufficient for everything, we might attempt everything, and take in order the whole Encyclopedia. But life is short, and we are dull-minded, and eternal things are necessary; the souls who depend on our teaching are precious. I confess, necessity has been the conductor of my studies and my life. It chooses what book I will read, and tells me when to read it, and for how long. It chooses my text, and makes my sermon, both for matter and manner, so far as I can keep out my own corruption. Though I know the constant expectation of death has been a great cause of this, yet I know no reason why the most healthy man should not make sure of the most necessary things first, considering the uncertainty and shortness of all men’s lives. Xenophon thought, “there is no better teacher than necessity, which teaches all things most diligently.” In studying, preaching, or laboring, who can be doing other things, if he knows that this thing must be done? Who can trifle or delay when he feels the urgent spurring of necessity? As the soldier says, “Where necessity urges us on, no lengthy discussing is needed, but speedy and strong contending;” and much more so for us, since our business is more important. Doubtless this is the best way to redeem time: to see that we do not lose an hour, because we spend it only on necessary things. This is the way to be most profitable to others, though it is not always the most pleasing and applauded; that is because, through men’s frailty, Seneca says, truly, that, “We are attracted to novelties rather than to great things.”

Thus it is that a preacher must often be focused on the same things, because the matters of necessity are few. We must neither fake what is necessary, nor spend time on what is unnecessary, in order to satisfy those who are looking for novelties; though we must clothe the same truths with a grateful variety in how we deliver them. The great volumes and tedious controversies that trouble us so much, and waste our time, are usually made up of opinions more than necessary truths; for, as Ficinus says, “Necessity is contained within narrow limits; not so with opinion”: and, as Gregory Nazianzen126 and Seneca often say, “Necessaries are common and obvious; it is superfluous things that we waste our time for, and labor for, and complain if we do not attain them.” Ministers, therefore, must be observant of the condition of their flocks, so that they may know what is most necessary for them, both as to matter and manner; and it is usually the matter is to be regarded first, being more important than the manner in which it is delivered. If you are to choose what authors to read yourselves, would you not rather take those who tell you what you do not know, and who speak the most necessary truths straightforwardly? Would you not rather read them, though they spoke in barbarous or unattractive language, than to read those who will most learnedly and elegantly tell you what is false or vain, and “by a great effort say nothing.” I purpose to follow Augustine’s counsel: “Give first place to the meaning of the Word, so that the soul is given preference over the body”;127 from this it follows that we seek what is true, more than we seek discerning128 discourses; just as we seek those who are sensible to be our friends, more than we seek those who are handsome. And surely, what I do in my studies for my own edification, I should do in my teaching for other men’s edification. It is commonly empty, ignorant men who lack the matter and substance of true learning, who are over-scrupulous and solicitous about words and ornamentation, when the old, experienced, and most learned men abound in substantial truths, usually delivered in the plainest dress. Aristotle says the reason women are more addicted to pride in apparel than men is that, thinking they have little inward worth, they seek to make it up with outward borrowed ornaments; so is it with empty, worthless preachers, who want to be esteemed for what they are not, and have no other way to procure that esteem than outward ornamentation.

5. All our teaching must be as plain and simple as possible. This best suits a teacher’s ends. One who would be understood must speak to the capacity of his hearers. Truth loves the light, and it is most beautiful when it is most naked. It is the sign of an envious enemy to hide the truth; and it is the work of a hypocrite to do this under the pretense of revealing it; and therefore painted and obscure sermons (like the painted glass in windows which keeps out the light) are too often the marks of painted hypocrites. If you would not teach men, then what are you doing in the pulpit? If you would teach, then why do you not speak so as to be understood? I know the height of the matter may not make a man understood, even when he has studied to make it as plain as he can. But when a man purposely clouds the matter in strange words, and hides his mind from the people, those whom he pretends to instruct, he has found a way to make fools admire his profound learning, and wise men admire his folly, pride, and hypocrisy. Some men conceal their sentiments under the pretense of necessity; this is because of men’s prejudices, and that they are unprepared in their common understanding to receive the truth. 129 But truth overcomes prejudice by the mere light of evidence. There is no better way to make a good cause prevail, than to make it as plainly, thoroughly, and generally known as we can. It is this light that will dispose an unprepared mind to receive the truth. It is, at best, a sign that a man has not well-digested the matter himself, if he is not able to deliver it plainly to others. I mean as plainly as the nature of the matter will bear, considering any prerequisite truths needed for the capacity to understand it; for I know that some men cannot at present understand some truths, even if you were to speak them as plainly as words can express them; even the easiest rules in grammar, most plainly taught, will not be understood by a child who is just learning his alphabet.

6. Our work must be carried on with great humility. We must carry ourselves meekly and condescendingly to all; and teach others while being ready to learn from anyone who can teach us; and so we both teach and learn at the same time; not proudly venting our own conceits, and disdaining all who in any way contradict them, as if we had attained the height of knowledge, and were destined for the chair, while other men must sit at our feet. Pride is a vice that badly fits those who must lead men in such a humble way to heaven.

Let us take heed, therefore, lest, when we have brought others there, the gate should prove too narrow for ourselves. For, as Grotius says, “Pride is born in heaven, as if unmindful that once the way to that place is closed, it is impossible for pride to return to it afterwards!”130 God, who thrust out a proud angel, will not entertain a proud preacher there. I think we should at least remember not to disdain the title of a Minister, though the popish priests do. It is this pride at the root, that feeds all the rest of our sins. From this flows the envy, contention, and unpeaceableness of ministers; from this flows the barriers to all reformation; all want to lead, but few will follow or concur. From this also flows the non-proficiency of too many ministers, because they are too proud to learn. Humility would teach them another lesson. I may say of ministers such as Augustine to Jerome, even of the aged among them, “Although it is more fitting for the aged to teach than to learn, it is much more fitting to learn than to be ignorant.”

7. There must be a prudent mixture of severity and gentleness in both our preaching and our discipline; each must be predominant according to the quality or character of the person or matter we are dealing with. If there is no severity, then our reproofs will be ignored. If it is all severity, then we will be seen as usurpers of dominion over others, rather than those who persuade the minds of men to the truth.

8. We must be serious, earnest, and zealous in every part of our work. Our work requires greater skill, and especially greater life and zeal than any of us bring to it. It is no small matter to stand up in the face of a congregation, and to deliver a message of salvation or damnation, as from the living God, in the name of the Redeemer. It is no easy matter to speak so plainly that the most ignorant may understand us; and so seriously that the deadest hearts may feel us; and so convincingly, that those who contradict and quibble may be silenced. The weight of our matter condemns coldness and sleepy dullness. We should see that we are well-awakened ourselves, and that our spirits are in such a plight that we may be fitted to awaken others. If our words are not sharpened, and do not pierce like nails, then they will hardly be felt by stony hearts. Speaking slightly and coldly of heavenly things is nearly as bad as saying nothing of them at all.

9. The whole of our ministry must be carried on in tender love towards our people. We must let them see that nothing pleases us except what profits them; and what does them good does us good; and that nothing troubles us more than their hurt. We must feel toward our people as a father feels toward his children: indeed, the tenderest love of a mother must not surpass ours. We must travail in birth, until Christ is formed in them.131 They should see that we do not care about outward things, not wealth, liberty, honor, or life, in comparison with their salvation; but along with Moses, we could even be content to have our names blotted out of the Lamb’s book of life, than not to find their names there.132 Thus, as John says, we should be ready to “lay down our lives for the brothers,”133 and along with Paul, we should not count our lives so dear to us, but we may “finish our course with joy, and the ministry which we have received of the Lord Jesus.”134 When the people see that you love them without feigning it, they will hear anything and bear anything from you; as Augustine says, “Love God, and do what you please.”135 We ourselves will take all things well from someone we know loves us entirely. We will put up with a blow that is given to us in love, sooner than we will with a foul word spoken to us in malice or anger. Most men judge counsel as they judge the affection of the one who gives it, at least as to giving it a fair hearing.

Therefore, see to it that you feel a tender love towards your people in your hearts, and let them perceive it in your speech, and see it in your conduct. Let them see that you spend, and are spent, for their sakes; and that all you do is for them and not for any private ends of your own. To this end, charitable works are necessary, as far as your estate allows;136 for bare words will hardly convince men that you have any great love for them. But, if you are not able to give, show that you would be willing to give if you had it; and to do whatever sort of good you can. But see to it that your love is not carnal, flowing from pride, as if a suitor for yourself rather than for Christ; such a person loves because he is loved, or so that he may be loved. Take heed, therefore, that you do not ignore the sins of your people under a pretense of love, for that would cross the nature and the end of love. Friendship must be cemented by piety. A wicked man cannot be a true friend; and, if you befriend their wickedness, you show that you are wicked yourselves. You cannot pretend to love them if you favor their sins, and do not seek their salvation. By favoring their sins, you show your enmity to God; and then how can you love your brother? If you are their best friends, then help them against their worst enemies. And do not think that all sharpness is inconsistent with love: parents correct their children; God himself “chastens every son whom he receives.”137 Augustine says, “It is better to love even when accompanied by severity, than to mislead by excessive lenience.”138

10. We must carry on our work with patience. We must bear with many abuses and injuries from those to whom we seek to do good. When we have studied for them, and prayed for them, and exhorted them, and begged them with all earnestness and humility, and given them what we were able to give, and tended them as if they had been our children, we must expect that many of them will repay us with scorn and hatred and contempt, and consider us their enemies, because we “tell them the truth.”139 Now, we must endure all this patiently, and we must keep doing good without becoming weary140, “in meekness instructing those who oppose you, that God may perhaps give them repentance to acknowledge the truth.”141 We have to deal with distraught men who will fly in the face of their physician, but we must not, therefore, neglect their cure. One who would be driven away from a frantic patient by foul words is unworthy to be a physician. Yet, unfortunately, when sinners reproach and slander us for our love, and are more ready to spit in our faces than thank us for our advice, what venom there will be in us, and how the remnants of old Adam (pride and passion) will struggle against the meekness and patience of the new man! And how sadly many ministers come off under such trials!

11. All our work must be managed reverently, as befits those who believe the presence of God, and do not use holy things as if they were common. Reverence is that affection of the soul which proceeds from deep apprehensions of God; it indicates a mind that is very conversant with him. Manifesting irreverence in the things of God manifests hypocrisy; it shows that the heart does not agree with the tongue. I do not know how it is with others, but the most reverent preacher, who speaks as if he saw the face of God, affects my heart more, even though speaking with common words, than an irreverent man will affect it with the most exquisite preparations. Indeed, even though he wails it out with seeming earnestness, if reverence does not accompany his fervency, it will have little effect. Of all the preaching in the world, (which does not speak stark lies) I hate that preaching which tends to make the hearers laugh, or to move their minds with tickling levity, and affects them as stage-plays used to do, instead of affecting them with a holy reverence for the name of God. Jerome says, “Teach in your church, not to get the applause of the people, but to set in motion the groan; the tears of the hearers are your praises.”142 The more of God that appears in our duties, the more authority they will have with men. We should, as it were, suppose that we had seen the throne of God, and the millions of glorious angels attending him, so that we may be awed with his majesty when we draw near him in holy things; otherwise, we may profane them, and take his name in vain.

12. All our work must be done spiritually, as it should be by men who are possessed of the Holy Ghost. There is in some men’s preaching a spiritual strain of music which spiritual hearers can discern and relish; while in other men’s preaching, this sacred quality is so lacking that, even when they speak of spiritual things, the manner in which they do it is as if they were speaking of common matters. Our evidence and our illustrations of divine truth must also be spiritual, drawn from the Holy Scriptures rather than from the writings of men. The wisdom of the world must not be magnified against the wisdom of God; philosophy must be taught to stoop and serve, while faith bears the main sway. Great scholars in Aristotle’s school must take heed of glorying too much in their master, and despising those who are below them; otherwise, they may prove themselves lower in the school of Christ, and “least in the kingdom of God,”143 though they would be great in the eyes of men.144 The wisest of them would glory in nothing but the cross of Christ, and be determined to know nothing but Him crucified.145 And those who are so confident that Aristotle is in hell, should not rely on him too much as their guide in the way to heaven. It is an excellent memorandum that Gregory has left us: “God in the first place gathers together the unlearned; afterwards the wise ones. And he does not make fishermen of orators, but produces orators of fishermen.”146 The most learned men should think of this.

Let all writers have their due esteem, but compare none of them with the Word of God. We will not refuse their service, but we must abhor them as rivals or competitors. It is the sign of a disaffected heart that it loses the relish of Scripture excellence. For in a spiritual heart, there is a natural affinity to the Word of God, because this is the seed which regenerated him. The Word is that seal which made all the holy impressions that are in the hearts of true believers, and stamped the image of God upon them; and, therefore, they must be like that Word, and highly esteem it as long as they live.

13. If you would prosper in your work, be sure to keep up earnest desires and expectations of success. If your hearts are not set on the outcome of your labors, and you do not long to see the conversion and edification of your hearers, and you do not study and preach in hope, then you are not likely to see much success. It is a sign of a false, self-seeking heart, that a preacher can still be content to do his work, and yet see no fruit of his labor. Thus I have observed that God seldom blesses anyone’s work so much as the man whose heart is set upon its success. Let it be the trait of a Judas to have more regard for the moneybag than for his work; and not to care much for what they only pretend to care about; and to think that if they have their salaries, and the love and commendations of their people, then they have enough to satisfy them. But let all those who preach for Christ, and men’s salvation, be unsatisfied until they have obtained the thing they preach for. Someone who is indifferent whether he obtains them, and is not grieved when he misses them, and does not rejoice when he can see the desired outcome, never had the right ends of a preacher. When a man only studies what to say and how to say it, commending it, but just to spend the hour, without expecting anything more afterward, except to know what people think of his abilities – and he thus holds on from year to year – then I must think that this man preaches for himself and not for Christ, even when he preaches Christ, however excellently he may seem to do it. No wise or charitable physician can be content to constantly give medicine, but see no change among his patients, except to have them all die at his hands: nor will any wise and honest schoolmaster be content to continue teaching, even though his scholars do not profit by his instructions. Both of them should instead be weary of their employment.

I know that a faithful minister may be comforted when he lacks success; and “though Israel be not gathered, our reward is with the Lord,”147 and our acceptance is not according to the fruit, but according to our labor. But then, the one who does not long for the success of his labors can have none of this comfort, because he was not a faithful laborer. What I say is only for those who are set upon the end, and grieved if they miss it. Nor is this the full comfort we must desire, but only the part that may quiet us, even though we miss the rest. What if God will accept a physician, even though the patient dies? He must, notwithstanding that acceptance, work in compassion, and long for a better outcome, and be sorry if he misses it. For it is not merely our own reward that we labor for, but other men’s salvation. I confess, for my part, I marvel at some ancient reverend men who have lived twenty, thirty, or forty years with an unprofitable people, among whom they have scarcely been able to discern any fruits of their labors, and how they can continue among them with so much patience,. Were it my case, even though I dare not leave the vineyard or quit my calling, I would still suspect that it may be God’s will that I go somewhere else, and that another should come in my place who might be better fitted for them; I would not be easily satisfied to spend my days in such a manner.

14. Our whole work must be carried on under a deep sense of our own insufficiency, and of our entire dependence on Christ. We must go for light, and life, and strength to him who sends us on the work. And when we feel our own faith is weak, and our hearts are dull, and unsuitable to so great a work as we have to do, we must have recourse to go to him, and say, “Lord, will you send me with such an unbelieving heart to persuade others to believe? Must I daily plead with sinners about everlasting life and everlasting death, and yet have no more belief or feeling of these weighty things myself? O, do not send me naked and unprovisioned to the work; but, just as you command me to do it, furnish me with a spirit suitable for it.” Prayer must carry on our work as well as preaching: someone who does not preach heartily to his people, does not pray earnestly for them either. If we do not prevail with God to give them faith and repentance, then we will never prevail with them to believe and repent. When our own hearts are so far out of order, and theirs are so far out of order, if we do not prevail with God to mend and help them, then we are likely to have only unsuccessful work.

15. Having given you these concomitants of our ministerial work, to be singly performed by every minister, let me conclude with one other that is necessary to us as we are fellow-laborers in the same work. And that is this: we must be very studious of union and communion among ourselves, and of the unity and peace of the churches that we oversee. We must be sensible how necessary this is to the prosperity of the whole, to the strengthening of our common cause, to the good of the particular members of our flock, and to the further enlargement of the kingdom of Christ. And, therefore, ministers must smart when the Church is wounded; they must flee from being the leaders in making divisions among us; instead, they must take it as a principal part of their work to prevent and heal them. Day and night they should bend their studies to find means to close such breaches. They must not only respond to motions for unity, but propound them and prosecute them; not only should they entertain an offered peace, but even pursue it when it flees from them. They must, therefore, keep close to the ancient simplicity of the Christian faith, and to the foundation and the center of catholic unity. They must abhor the arrogance of those who frame new mechanisms to rack and tear the Church of Christ under a pretense of obviating errors and maintaining the truth. The sufficiency of Scripture must be maintained, and nothing beyond it must be imposed on others. And if Papists or others ask us for the standard and the rule of our religion, then it is the Bible that we must show them, rather than any confessions of churches, or writings of men. We must learn to distinguish between certainties and uncertainties, necessaries and unnecessaries, universal truths and private opinions; and to lay the stress of the Church’s peace upon the former, not upon the latter. We must avoid the typical confusion of those who do not distinguish between verbal and real errors, and who hate that “madness formerly among theologians”, speaking of those who tear apart their brothers as heretics before they understand them.148 And we must learn to see the true state of controversies, and reduce them to the very point where the difference lies, and not make them seem greater than they are. Instead of quarrelling with our brothers, we must combine against our common adversaries. All ministers must associate with each other and have communion, correspondence, and constant meetings to these ends. Smaller differences of judgment are not to interrupt them. They must do as much of the work of God as they can in unity and concord, which is the proper use of synods; they do not exist to rule over one another and make laws, but to avoid misunderstandings, and to consult for mutual edification, and to maintain love and communion, and to go on unanimously in the work that God has already commanded us. Had the ministers of the gospel been men of peace, and of catholic rather than factious spirits, the Church of Christ would not have been in the situation it is now in. The nations of Lutherans and Calvinists abroad, and the differing parties here at home, would not have been plotting the subversion of one another; nor would they have remained at a distance and in uncharitable bitterness; nor would they have strengthened the common enemy, and hindered the building and prosperity of the Church, as they have done.

SECTION 3 – MOTIVES TO THE OVERSIGHT OF THE FLOCK

Having considered the manner in which we are to take heed to the flock, I will now proceed to lay before you some motives for this oversight; and here I will confine myself to those contained in my text.149

1. The first consideration which the text suggests to us, is drawn from our relationship to the flock: we are overseers of it.

(1) The nature of our office requires us to “take heed to the flock.” What else are we overseers for? “Bishop” is a title which intimates more of “labor than of honor,” says Polydore Virgil.150 To be a bishop or pastor is not to be an idol for the people to bow to, nor to be idle “slow bellies,”151 living for our fleshly delight and ease; but it is to guide sinners to heaven. It is a sad case that men should belong to a calling of which they do not know the nature, and that they undertake what they do not know. Do these men consider what they have undertaken, who live in ease and pleasure, and have time to take their extravagant recreations, and to spend an hour or more in loitering, or in meaningless conversations, when so much work depends upon their hands? Brothers, do you consider what you have taken upon yourselves? Why, you have undertaken the conduct, under Christ, of a band of his soldiers “against principalities and powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places.”152 You must lead them on to the sharpest conflicts; you must acquaint them with the enemies’ stratagems and assaults; you must watch yourselves, and keep them watching. If you miscarry, then both they and you may perish. You have a subtle enemy, and therefore you must be wise. You have a vigilant enemy, and therefore you must be vigilant. You have a malicious and violent and unwearied enemy, and therefore you must be resolute, courageous, and indefatigable. You are in a crowd of enemies, encompassed by them on every side, and if you heed one and not all, you will quickly fall. Oh, what a world of work you have to do! If you had only one ignorant old man or woman to teach, what a hard task would it be, even if they were be willing to learn! But if they are as unwilling as they are ignorant, then how much more difficult it will prove to be! But to have a multitude of ignorant persons, as most of us have, what work it makes for us! What a pitiful life it is to have to reason with men that have almost lost the use of reason, and to argue with those who neither understand themselves nor you! O brothers, what a world of wickedness we have to contend against in one soul; and what a number of these worlds! And when you think you have accomplished something, you have only left the seed among the fowls of the air;153 wicked men are at their side to rise up and contradict all you have said. You speak just once to sinners for the ten or twenty times that the emissaries of Satan speak to them.

Moreover, how easily the business and the cares of the world choke the seed which you have sown.154 If the truth had no enemy but what is in sinners themselves, how easily a frozen and carnal heart would extinguish those sparks which you have been so long in kindling! Indeed, for lack of fuel and further help, they will go out by themselves. And when you think your work happily succeeds, and you have seen men confessing their sins and promising reformation, and living as new creatures and zealous converts, alas, after all this, they may yet prove to be unsound and false at heart, and have changed only superficially: they have taken up new opinions, and keep new company, but without a new heart. After some considerable change, O how many, are deceived by the profits and the honors of the world, and are again entangled by their former lusts! How many only exchange a disgraceful way of flesh-pleasing, for a way that is less dishonorable, and does not make so great a noise in their consciences! How many grow proud before they acquire a thorough knowledge of religion; and being confident in the strength of their unfurnished intellects, they greedily snatch at every error that is presented to them under the name of truth. Like chickens that straggle away from the hen, they are carried away by that infernal kite155, while they proudly despise the guidance and advice of those whom Christ has set over them for their safety!

O brothers, what a field of work there is before us! There is not a person you see that will not make work for you. In the saints themselves, how soon the Christian graces languish if you neglect them; and how easily they are drawn into sinful ways, to the dishonor of the gospel, and to their own loss and sorrow! If this is the work of a minister, you may see by this what a life he has to lead. Let us then be up and doing it with all our might; difficulties must vitalize rather than discourage us in so necessary a work. If we cannot do it all, then let us do what we can. For, if we neglect it, woe to us and to the souls committed to our care! If we should pass over all these other duties, and, think to prove ourselves faithful ministers only by offering a plausible sermon, and to put off God and man with such a shell and a vizor156, then our reward will prove as superficial as our work.

(2) Consider that it is by your own voluntary undertaking and engagement that all this work is laid upon you. No man forced you to be overseers of the Church. And does not common honesty bind you to be true to your trust?

(3) Consider that you have the honor, to encourage you in the labor. And a great honor it is to be the ambassadors of God, and to be the instruments of men’s conversion, to “save their souls from death, and to cover a multitude of sins.”157 The honor, indeed, only attends the work. Therefore, to do as the prelates of the Church in all ages have done, which is to strive for precedence and fill the world with contentions about the dignity and superiority of their seats, shows that we have largely forgotten the nature of the office which we have undertaken. I seldom see ministers strive so furiously for pre-eminence, if they will first go to a poor man’s cottage to teach him and his family the way to heaven; or will first endeavor for the conversion of a sinner, or will first become the servant of all. It is strange that, notwithstanding all the plain statements of Christ, men will not understand the nature of their office! If they did, would they strive to be the pastor of a whole county and more, when there are so many thousands of poor sinners in it who cry out for help, and these pastors are neither able nor willing to relieve them? Would they patiently live in the same house with profane people, and not seriously and incessantly pursue them for their conversion? And would they want to have the name and honor of the work of a whole county, if they are unable to do all the work of a parish? The honor is only an appendage of the work. Is it names and honor, or is it the work and its end that they desire? Oh! If they would faithfully, humbly, and self-denyingly lay themselves out for Christ and for his Church, and never think of titles and reputation, then they would have honor, whether they wanted it or not; but by gaping after it, they lose it: for, this is the case of virtue’s shadow: “What follows, I flee from; what flees, I follow after.”

(4) Consider that you have many other excellent privileges of the ministerial office to encourage you to do the work. Therefore, if you will not do the work, you have nothing to do with its privileges. You earn your living by other men’s labors. This is done for your work, so that you may not be taken from it; but instead, as Paul requires, you may “give yourselves wholly to these things;” then you will not be forced to neglect men’s souls while providing for your own bodies. Either do the work, then, or do not take the income. But you have far greater privileges than this. Is it nothing to be brought up in learning, when others are brought up in the use of the cart and plow? And to be furnished with so much delightful knowledge, when the world lies in ignorance? Is it nothing to converse with learned men, and to talk of high and glorious things, when others must converse mostly with the vulgar and illiterate? But especially, what an excellent privilege it is to live in studying and preaching Christ! To be continually searching into his mysteries, or feeding on them! To be employed daily in the consideration of the blessed nature, works, and ways of God! Others are glad to have the leisure of the Lord’s Day, and now and then to have another hour when they can lay hold of it. But we may keep a continual Sabbath. We may do almost nothing else except study and talk of God and glory, and engage in acts of prayer and praise, and drink in his sacred, saving truths. Our employment is all high and spiritual. Whether we are alone, or in company, our business is for another world. O that our hearts were more attuned to this work! What a blessed, joyful life we would then live! How sweet our study would be to us! How pleasant the pulpit would be! And what delight our discussions about spiritual and eternal things would afford us! To live among such excellent helps as our libraries afford, to have so many silent and wise companions whenever we please – all these and many other privileges of the ministry speak to our unwearied diligence in the work.

(5) By your work you are related to Christ, as well as to the flock. You are the stewards of his mysteries, and the rulers of his household; he that entrusted you with these things, will maintain you in his work. But then, “it is required of a steward that he is found faithful.”158 Be true to him, and never doubt that he will be true to you. If you feed his flock, he will sooner feed you than Elijah, than leave you in want. If you are in prison, he will open the doors; but then you must relieve imprisoned souls. He will give you “a tongue and wisdom that no enemy will be able to resist,”159 but then you must use it faithfully for him. If you will put out your hand to relieve the distressed, he will wither the hand that is stretched out against you. The ministers of England, I am sure, may know this largely by experience. Many a time God has rescued them from the jaws of the devourer. Oh, the admirable preservations and deliverances that they have had from cruel Papists, from tyrannical persecutors, and from misguided, impassioned men! Consider, brothers, why it is that God has done all this. Is it for you, or for his Church? What are you to him, more than other men, except for his work and for the sake of his people? Are you angels? Is your flesh formed of better clay than your neighbors? Are you not of the same generation of sinners, who need his grace as much as they do? Get up then, and work as the redeemed of the Lord, as those who are purposely rescued from ruin for his service. If you believe that God has rescued you for himself, then live for him, as being unreservedly his, the one who has delivered you!

2. The second motive in the text is drawn from the efficient cause of this relationship. It is the Holy Ghost that has made us overseers of his Church. Therefore, we are required to take heed to it. The Holy Ghost makes men bishops or overseers of the Church in three separate respects: By qualifying them for the office; by directing those who ordain them to discern their qualifications, and to know who the fittest men are; and by directing the people and themselves to assign them a particular charge. All these things were done at that time in an extraordinary way, by inspiration, or at least it was very often so. The same things are done now by the ordinary way of the Spirit’s assistance. But it is still the same Spirit; and men are made overseers of the Church by the Holy Ghost (when rightly called), now as well as then. Therefore, it is a strange conceit of the Papists that ordination by the hands of man is considered an absolute necessary in the ministerial office, more than the calling of the Holy Ghost. God has determined in his Word that there will be such an office, and what the work and power of that office will be, and what the qualifications will be of the sort of men who receive it. None of these things can be undone by man, or made unnecessary. God also gives men the qualifications which he requires, so that all that the Church has to do, whether pastors or people, ordainers or electors, is merely to discern and determine which men God has thus qualified, and to accept those who are so provided, and upon consent, to solemnly install them in this office. What an obligation is laid upon us, then, by our call to the work! If our commission is sent from heaven, then it is not to be disobeyed. When the apostles were called by Christ from their secular employments, they immediately left friends, and house, and trade, and everything else, and followed him. When Paul was called by the voice of Christ, he “was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”160 Though our call is not so immediate or extraordinary, yet it is from the same Spirit. It is not a safe course to imitate Jonah, turning our back on the commands of God. If we neglect our work, he has a spur to quicken us; if we run away from it, he has messengers enough to overtake us and bring us back, and make us do it; it is better to do it at first, than at last.

3. The third motive in the text is drawn from the dignity of the object which is committed to our charge. It is the Church of God which we must oversee – that Church for which the world is chiefly upheld, which is sanctified by the Holy Ghost, and which is the mystical body of Christ. It is that Church with which angels are present, and on which they attend as ministering spirits, whose little ones have their angels beholding the face of God in heaven. Oh what a charge it is that we have undertaken! And will we be unfaithful to it? Have we the stewardship of God’s own family, and will we neglect it? Have we the conduct of those saints who will live with God forever in glory, and will we neglect them? God forbid! I beg you, brothers, let this thought awaken the negligent. You who draw back from painful, displeasing, suffering duties, and put off men’s souls with ineffectual formalities, do you think that this is honorable treatment of Christ’s spouse? Are the souls of men thought fit by God to see his face, and to live forever in heaven, and yet they are not worthy of your utmost cost and labor on earth? Do you think so basely of the Church of God, as if it did not deserve the best of your care and help? If you kept sheep or swine, you would scarcely let them go astray saying, “They are not worth looking after”, especially if they were your own. And do you dare say so of the souls of men, of the Church of God? Christ walks among them: remember his presence, and see that you are diligent in your work. They are “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, to show forth the praises of him who has called them.”161 And yet would you neglect them? What a high honor it is just to be one of them, indeed, a door-keeper in the house of God! But to be the priest of these priests, and the ruler of these kings – this is such an honor that it multiplies your obligations to be diligent and faithful in so noble an employment.

4. The last motive that is mentioned in my text, is drawn from the price that was paid for the Church which we oversee: “Which God,” says the apostle, “has purchased with his own blood.”162 Oh what an argument this is to motivate the negligent, and to condemn those who will not be motivated to their duty by it! “Oh,” says one of the ancient doctors, “If Christ had only committed to my keeping one spoonful of his blood in a fragile glass, how scrupulously I would preserve it, and how careful I would be with that glass! If then he has committed to me those purchased by his blood, should I not look to my charge as carefully?” What! Sirs, will we despise the blood of Christ? Will we think it was shed for those who are not worthy of our utmost care? You may see here that it is not a little fault of which negligent pastors are guilty. As much as it lies in them, the blood of Christ would be shed in vain by them. They would lose him those souls whom he has so dearly purchased. Oh then, let us hear these arguments of Christ whenever we feel ourselves grow dull and careless: “Did I die for these souls, and will you not look after them? Were they worth my blood, and are they not worth your labor? Did I come down from heaven to earth, “to seek and to save what was lost;”163 and yet you will not go next door, or to the next street or village, to seek them? How small your humility and labor are compared to mine! I debased myself for this; but it is your honor to be employed for it. Have I done and suffered so much for their salvation, and was I willing to make you a fellow-worker with me, and yet you refuse to do that little task which relies on your hands?” Every time we look at our congregations, let us believingly remember that they are the purchase of Christ’s blood, and therefore they should be regarded by us with the deepest interest, and the most tender affection. Oh, think what a confusion it will be to a negligent minister, at the last day, to have this blood of the Son of God pleaded against him; and for Christ to say, “It was the purchase of my blood which you made so light of, and yet you think to be saved by it yourself?” O brothers, seeing that Christ will bring his blood to plead with us, let it plead us to our duty, lest it plead us to damnation.164

I have now finished with the motives which I find in the text itself. There are many more that might be gathered from the rest of this exhortation of the apostle, but we must not stay to take it all in. If the Lord drove home only these few motives upon our hearts, I do not doubt that we will see reason to mend our pace; and the change will be such on our hearts and in our ministry, that we and our congregations will have cause to bless God for it. I know I am unworthy myself to be your monitor; but a monitor you must have; and it is better for us to hear of our sin and our duty from anybody, than from nobody. Receive the admonition, and you will see no cause in the monitor’s unworthiness to repent of it. But if you reject it, the unworthiest messenger may bear witness against you another day, which will then confound you.