The reformed pastor

Front matter

THE

REFORMED PASTOR;

THE DUTY OF PERSONAL LABORS

Chapter I. The Nature Of This Oversight

I. See that the work of grace be thoroughly wrought in your own soul. • 59 II. See that your graces are in rigorous and lively exercise, 100

III. See that your example contradict not your doctrine. ■ ■ ■ ■ 103

IV. See that you lire not in those sins against which you preach in others. 10S V. See that you he not destitute of the cualnications necessary for your

Chapter II. The Motives To This Oversight

1. You hare a heaven to win or lose as well as other men. 114

II You have a depraved nature as well as others. ■ • ■ 116

III. Y'ou are exposed to greater temptations than others. ■ • 117

IV. Y'ou have many eyes upon you, and there will be many to observe

your falls, 119

V. Tom sins will have more heinous aggravations than other men's,- ■ 130 VI. Such important works as ours require greater grac e t: an other men's, 122

VII. The honor of Christ lieth more on you than on other men. 123

"VIII. The success of your labors materially depends on your taking heed

to yourselves. 125

Part II. The Oversight Of The Flock

CHAPTER I.

THE NATURE OF THIS OVERSIGHT.

Tnis over- s ; to all the flock, 135

I. "We must labor for the conversion of the unconverted, 144

H. We must sire advice to inquirers who are under convictions of sin, • 147

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III. We must study to build up those who are already partakers of divine

grace, 152

IV. "We must exercise a careful oversight of families, 156

Y. "We must be diligent in visiting the sick, 159

VI. We must be faithful in the reproof and admonition of offenders, • • • • 162

VII. We must not neglect the exercise of church discipline, 162

CHAPTER II.

THE MANNER OF THIS OVERSIGHT.

The ministerial work must be carried on,

I. Purely for God, and the salvation of souls, 171

II. Diligently and laboriously, 172

III. Prudently and orderly, 172

IV. Insisting chiefly on the greatest and most necessary things, 173

V. With plainness and simplicity, 175

VI. With humility, 176

VII. With a mixture of severity and mildness, 177

VIII. With affection and seriousness and zeal, 178

IX. With tender love to our people, 178

X. With patience, 180

XI. With reverence, 181

XII. With spirituality, 181

XIII. With earnest desires and expectations of success, 182

XIV. Under a deep sense of our own insufficiency, and of our dependence

on Christ, 184

XV. In uni ty with other ministers, 185

Chapter III. The Motives To This Oversight

I. From the relation in which we stand to the flock : We are overseers, • 187 II. From the efficient cause of this relation : The Holy Grhost, 194

III. From the dignity of the object which is intrusted to our care : The

church of G-od, 195

IV. From the price paid for the church : Which he hath purchased with

his blood, 196

Chapter I. The Use Of Humiliation

I. On account of our pride, 204

II. Our not seriously, unreservedly, and laboriously laying out ourselves in

our work, 217

CONTENTS. 11

1. By negligent studies. 217

2. By dull, drowsy preaching, 218

3. By not helping destitute congregations, 222

III. Our prevailing regard to our worldly interests, in opposition to the

interests of Christ, 222

1. By temporizing, 222

2. By worldly business, 224

3. By barrenness in works of charity, 225

IV. Our undervaluing the unity and peace of the churches, 239

V. Our neglect of church discipline, 237

Chapter II

THE DUTY OF PERSONAL CATECHIZING AND INSTRUCT- ING PARTICULARLY RECOMMENDED.

Section I. Motives to this duty, 249

Article I. Motives from the benefits of the work, 249

1. It will be a most hopeful means of the conversion of sinners, 250

2. It will essentially promote the edification of saints, 253

3. It will make our public preaching better understood by our people, • 254

4. It will make us more familiar with them, and assist us in winning

their affections, 254

5. It will make us better acquainted with their spiritual state, and

enable us better to watch over them, 255

6. It will assist us in reference to their publicly professing Christ- • ■ • 255

7. It will show men the true nature of the ministerial office. 256

8. It will show our people the nature of their duty to their ministers. ■ 25S

9. It will impart more correct views of the Christian ministry, and so

may procure further help, 261

10. It will exceedingly facilitate the ministerial work in succeeding

generations, 264

11. It will conduce to the better ordering of families, and the better

spending of the Lord's day, 265

12. It will preserve many ministers from idleness and misspending

their time, 265

13. It will contribute to subdue our own corruptions, and to exercise

our own graces, 266

14. It will withdraw' both ourselves and our people from vain contro-

versies, and the lesser matters of religion, 266

15. It will probably extend over the whole country, ■ • 267

16. It is likely to be a work which will not stop with those who are

engaged in it, 268

17. The weight and excellency of the duty recommended, 269

Article II. Motives from the difficulties of the work, 272

1. Difficulties in ourselves, 273

2. Difficulties in our people, 274

Article III. Motives from the necessity of the work, 276

1. It is necessary for the glory of Ood, 276

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2. It is necessary to the welfare of our people, 279

3. It is necessary to our own welfare, 282

Article IY. Application of these motives, • 283

Section III. Directions for this duty, 322

Article I. Directions for bringing our people to submit to this course

of instruction, 323

1. Conduct yourselves in the general course of your life and ministry

so as to convince them of your ability and sincerity, and love to them, • 324

2. Convince them of the benefit and necessity of this exercise, 326

3. Supply every family in your congregation, whether rich or poor, with

books, 328

4. Deal gently with them, and remove every kind of discouragement, • 330

5. Expostulate with such as are neglectful, 330

A-rticle II. Directions for prosecuting the exercise with success, 331

1. Address a few words to them in general, to mollify their minds, and

to remove all offence, 332

2. Take them one by one, and deal with each of them apart, 333

3. Take an account of what each of them has learned, 335

4. Try by further questions how far they understand what they have

learned, 336

5. "When you have tried their knowledge, proceed next to instruct them

yourselves, • 338

6 If they are grossly ignorant, or appear to be unconverted, make

some prudent inquiry into their state, 341

7. Endeavor to impress their heart with a sense of their deplorable con-

dition, 345

8. Conclude with an exhortation to them to believe in Christ, and to

the diligent use of external means of grace, 347

9. At dismissing them, mollify their minds by a few words deprecating

any thing like offence, and endeavor to engage the masters of families to carry on the work you have begun, 350

10. Keep a list of your people in a book, with notes of their character

and necessities. 351

11. Through the whole course of the exercise, see that the manner as

well as the matter be suited to the end, 351

12. If Ood enable you, extend your charity to those of the poorer sort,

before they part from you, 354

BY REV. DANIEL WILSON, D.D.

BISHOP OF CALCUTTA.

The name of Baxter is too well known, to require any thing to be said by way of introduction to such a work as the following. It is one of the best of his invaluable practical treatises. In the whole compass of divinity there is scarcely any thing superior to it, in close, pathetic appeals to the conscience of the minister of Christ, upon the primary duties of his office. The main object is, to press the necessity of his bringing home the truths of the gospel to every individual of his flock, by affectionate instruction. Some account of the work will be found in the preface to the present edition, from the pen of the excellent writer who has, with extraordinary success, prepared it for the public eye. The treatise is now adapted for the clergy of every confession. The passing controversies, the digressions, the long Latin quotations, the local matters, are omitted; but all that is native and vigorous, all that is spiritual and holy, all that is of general use, and belongs to every age, is retained and placed in a better light. A few phrases and sentiments, indeed, will still be found, which partake of Baxter's particular character, or arise from his habits of thinking on controverted matters. These are inseparable from human infirmity; and he is unworthy the name of a Christian, who can allow such trifling considerations to lessen the full effect of the general truths of the work on his own heart and conscience. The writer of these lines rejoices, for his own part, to bear his testimony to the high value of this powerful book. It is peculiarly gratifying to him, as an Episcopal clergyman, to introduce the maniy and eloquent pages of this great non-conformist divine. The ministers of every church should desire to have their errors boldly exposed, and the standard of the apostolic and primitive ages placed full before their eyes. Till we can bear this, we are not likely to see any considerable revival of religion amonsf us. To be firm in our own conviction of duty, and act consistently with our vows to our several divisions of Christ's church, is, indeed, a paramount obligation. But to rise above the mere details of a particular discipline, and enter into the high and spiritual designs of the ministry generally, as founded on the authority, and governed by the Spirit, and dedicated to the glory of Christ, is the only method of really promoting our several interests. We best advance the prosperity of our various bodies, when we seek the honor of our great Master and the salvation of souls, and make our ecclesiastical platforms entirely subservient to these high ends.

To the ministers, then, of all churches, and especially the Protestant churches of Europe and America, the writer now ventures to appeal. Wherever, indeed, the name of Christ is preached, in every part of the world, by the clergy of every confession, there would he direct his voice. Being called on to recommend " The Reformed Pastor " by some introductory observations, he would endeavor to make it the occasion of exciting the most pungent grief, and the most entire reformation ; and would thus urge his brother ministers to follow up, in the present day, what Baxter began among his contemporaries nearly two centuries since. What is done in one period, must be repeated in another; every age needs to be stirred up afresh. Baxter was preceded, and has been followed by writers on the same argument. Gildas and Salvian,^ the names on his original title-page, were two distinguished writers, who, in the fifth and sixth centuries, alarmed a careless church by the thunders of their denunciations. Immediately before our author's own time, Herbert delineated his " Country Parson" with a tenderness and skill peculiar to himself.t Sixty years afterwards, the mild and persuasive exhortations of the " Pastoral Care " were addressed, by Bishop Burnet, to the whole body of the English clergy 4 But for much more than a century since that time, no first-rate book on this subject has appeared. The publisher of the present edition has therefore done well in bringing forward this incomparable treatise of Baxter, in his series of " Select Christian Authors" — this is to make the energy and pathos of the seventeenth century bear on the feeble Christianity of the nineteenth.

Such is the opportunity on which the writer of

* The first title of Baxters ••'Reformed Pastor," was •*Gildas Salvianus."

t Herbert's " Country Parson" was first published in 1632. X Burnet's "Pastoral Care" — a work in every one's hand.

these introductory pages seizes, for addressing his appeal to his honored brethren of every name, and more especially to the clergy of his own church, with the view of carrying on Baxter's great design, and reviving the power of true religion among them. May he open his heart in all simplicity. May he at least, after thirty or forty years' observation, suggest to his younger brethren something which may tend, under the blessing of God, to promote a return to primitive zeal and love among the clergy. May he be permitted to admonish and rouse his own conscience, while he attempts to excite others. And 0, blessed Spirit of Christ, descend thou upon the writer and the readers of these pages. Vouchsafe success. Fulfil thy gracious office, as the Comforter of the church, by touching our hearts, and reviving thy work effectually among us. Let thy ministers be open to thy reproofs, and "hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."

In the first place, then, your attention, honored and beloved brethren in Christ, shall be directed to some topics of humiliation; in the next, to some grounds of hope ; and lastly, to several points of duty, as subservient to a revival of pure Christianity among us.

I. In the first place, permit me to ask, Have we not great cause for humiliation before our God, when we look back on our ministry ? This is the first topic. If Baxter had occasion to lament the worldly-mindedness, the party spirit, the time-serving, the cowardice, the neglect of individual catechizing, the pride, formality, and lukewarmness of the ministers of his own day, and in his own order; have we not cause to lament these, and the like evils, among ourselves ? Look, brethren, into the apostolical epistles, and read the remonstrances and reproofs which were required in the first age, and say if they are not even more necessary now. Call to mind the state of the seven churches of Asia, at the close of the inspired canon ; weigh every sentence of our Lord's rebukes; and say whether we are not now in the condition of those churches — whether the Laodicean lukewarmness, especially, has not crept over us. Reflect only on the corruption of our nature ; the artifices of Satan, as illustrated by the whole stream of ecclesiastical history ; and the uniform operation of long external peace upon the purity of the faith ; and say whether, from the necessary course of things, we are not in danger of a declining state in a day like the present.

But let us come to facts. Let us look back to our first entrance, each of us, upon the sacred ministry, and examine what were our motives. Were we duly sensible of the importance of the office ? Had we any competent understanding of the doctrine of Christ? Did we feel as we ought the value of souls? Alas, how many of us rushed into the vineyard without any of the view T s and feelings most essentially required. And those of us who hope we were moved, in some measure, by the Holy Spirit, how faint was our love to Christ; how T narrow the limits of our knowledge and faith and zeal; how imperfect our devotedness of heart to the one object, the salvation of souls.

And since w T e have been in the sacred office, what have we been about? How have our hearts been towards our Saviour ? How have we studied our Bibles ? How have we persevered in the spirit of prayer? How have we watched against the world? How have we sought to overcome the wicked one ? How have we honored the Holy Ghost ? How have we glorified Christ our Lord ? What have we done with our time, our talents, our opportunities, our influence, our various means of doing good to ourselves and others ? I do not speak of infirmities and smaller errors merely, from which none are exempt, nor of the effects of momentary temptations ; but I speak of the strain and course of our ministry, of our character and spirit. what cause have we for the deepest humiliation before our God !

But let us enter yet further into details, that thus our hearts may be filled with godly compunction.

1. What has been the state of our hearts during the course of our ministry ? Have there been no declines there ? Have we been advancing in love to Christ, in humiliation, in prayer, in communion with God, in devotional study of the Bible, in self-examination ? Have we been "growing in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ?" Have we been u in the love of God?" Have we felt as the ministers of Christ? Alas, brethren, if one may speak for another, we have too much departed in heart from the Lord. There has often been a mortal coldness, a decay in the springs of life. The source of all our failures has been in a spiritual torpor and indifference as to Christ and salvation, and the divine life within ourselves. We have sunk too much into the creature, into selfishness, into human wisdom, into the world. God has not had our hearts. We have not loved our Lord Jesus Christ in fervor and sincerity. Hence our other evils.

2. What have been the style and character of our public preaching? Has it been, in the full sense of the terms, evangelical, close, affectionate, appropriate, searching ? Have we preached " Jesus Christ, and him crucified?" Have we pleaded with souls? Have w r e aimed simply, intensely at their salvation ? Have we followed the model of the holy apostles ? Have we been "instant in season, out of season?" Have we been earnest, affectionate, importunate with our hearers ? On all these points, G-od knows what sins we have been committing. Grod knows how we have "preached ourselves, instead of Christ Jesus the Lord." God knows what tame, subordinate topics, what human inventions, what commandments and opinions of men, have sometimes weakened and deformed our public ministry.

3. Our private diligence among the families and individual members of our flocks, what has it been ? This is the question which Baxter thought he had the greatest occasion to press in the year 1655 ; and is it not much more applicable in 1829 ? Have we been as shepherds among their flocks ? Have we looked after each individual sheep with an eager solicitude ? Have we denied ourselves, our own ease and pleasure and indulgence, in order to " go after Christ's sheep, scattered in this naughty world, that they might be saved in Christ for ever ?" "What do the streets and lanes of our cities testify concerning us ? What do the highways and hedges of our country parishes say as to our fidelity and love to souls ? What do the houses and cottages and sick chambers of our congregations and neighborhoods speak ? Where have we been? What have we been doing? Has Christ our Master seen us following his footsteps, and " going about doing good ?" Brethren, we are verily faulty concerning this. We have been content with public discourses, and have net urged each soul to the concerns of salvation. We have not brought Christ and his offers, and placed them full before the view of each perishing sinner. We have not pressed these offers upon their acceptance with the frequency, the affection, the importunity, which the case demanded.

4. But let us enter our studies, and remember all our sins in our private duties; in our preparation for our public work, in our prayers, in the devotional and close application of truth to our own consciences. 0, what do our libraries, and closets, and places of study and preparation say ? What has become of all those hours which we professed to spend in prayer before God, with the Bible in our hands, and our ministry in our hearts ? How much time have we frittered away in vain reading ; in the gratification of curiosity; in pursuing " oppositions of science falsely so called;" in reading the last new book on divinity; in examining the last new criticism; in amusing our minds with the last review, the last piece of history, the last philosophical dissertation? I speak not against any department of sound and manly knowledge ; in its place, and to certain ministers at certain times, each is indispensable. But have we kept these things in their places ? Have they not superseded other more immediate duties ? Has not our reading been too much governed by inclination, rather than conscience, and a sense of duty? And in the preparing of our sermons, alas, how cold, how formal have we often been. Prayer has been the last thing we have thought of, instead of being the first. "We have made dissertations, not sermons ; we have consulted commentators, not our Bibles ; we have been led by science, not by the heart ; and therefore have our discourses in public, and our instructions in private, been so tame, so lifeless, so uninteresting to the mass of our hearers, so little savoring of Christ, so little like the inspired example of St. Paul.

5. Suffer yet further the word of exhortation, brethren; and let us review our walk before men, our general carriage, our conduct in our families, our behavior in the sight of others, our arrangement of our days and hours, our diligence and perseverance in the several branches of our calling. Can we answer before Grod the questions arising from topics like these? Have we been " wholesome examples of Christ" to our people ? Have we been separate from the spirit, fashions, maxims of the world? Have we shown to our people " the more excellent way?" Have we lived, as well as preached the gospel of Christ ? Have we given an assurance to every one of sincerity in our doctrine by our habitual walk ? Has our " conversation been in heaven?" Have we led the way to others in heavenly-mindedness, humility, self-denial, spiritual affections, superiority to the frowns and allurements of the world ? Have we been willing to bear reproach for Christ ? Have we followed our crucified Saviour to his glory with, our cross upon our shoulders ? Blessed Jesus, thou knowest the guilt of thy ministers in this respect, above all others. We have been divines, we have been scholars, we have been disputants, we have been students ; we have been every thing but the holy, self-denying, laborious, consistent ministers of thy despised gospel. "We have been courting the world ; we have been trying to serve God and mammon ; we have loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. The state of our hearts has been cold ; our public preaching has been defective ; our duties among our flock, our studies, have been full of evil ; but our , walk before men, when compared with the spirituality of thy holy example, and the standard of our profession, has been worst of all. It is into this sewer and receptacle that all our secret corruptions have been flowing ; it is here they have been poured out. And now, in the review of these instances of our departure from thee, our God, we would humble ourselves in an unaffected abasement of soul. But we would not stop here ; we would go on to confess before thee the sad effects of these evils in the general condition of thy church.

6. For our humiliation, beloved brethren, will be far from complete, unless we look our whole state full in the face. Let us consider what have been the consequences of the above more private and personal evils. Let us look back, each of us, on our past history. Let us remember those times of peculiar guilt and backsliding which have dishonored our God ; when Satan has come in like a flood ; when we have shamefully yielded to temptation, disgraced our sacred profession, grieved and almost caused the Holy Spirit to forsake us, laid waste our consciences, and weakened the whole simplicity and energy of our subsequent ministry. Why is it that things are at the low ebb with many of us, which wc have pointed out in the preceding pages ? Is it not because of some great sins, which, though known to few of our fellow-creatures, have been well known to our God and Saviour ? The dregs of an outraged piety can never suffice for the right discharge of the sacred office. If the writer may freely speak, he would put it to every minister's conscience, to say whether, in some cases, temptation and secret iniquity, peculiar departures in heart from the Lord, and scenes in former years which memory too faithfully records, have not left the traces and associations of evil so strongly imprinted on the habits — have not corrupted so deeply the first principles of faith and love in the heart, as to mar and injure the simplicity of the soul, and produce that weak, vacillating, inefficient ministry, of which our flocks have so Ions: had reason to complain? that these wounds may be effectually healed by the application of the blood and Spirit of Christ ! that a deep humiliation may bring us back to our God ! that the rest of our ministry may be honored by the full measure of the divine grace and communications ! Backsliding and apostasy of heart, too often leading to open sin, are the offence of the present day.

7. Again, how much should we be abased before our God for the fearful errors and heresies which have risen up in the spiritual church. This is another consequence of general lukewarmness. We speak not of occasional mistakes, of a greater or less degree of accuracy and clearness, but of open error and departure from the faith of Christ. On the one hand, how much has been written and preached to weaken the doctrine of the fall ; of the grace of Christ ; of the merciful will of our heavenly Father, as the first source of our salvation; of the " righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe ;" of the operations of the Holy Spirit ; of the promises of persevering grace ; of the spirituality and extent of Christian obedience ; of the joy and delight of communion with God, and the anticipations of heaven. God knows how we have erred, many of us, in these respects. For example, on the one doctrine of regeneration, and the new creation by the Holy Spirit, how much error has infected the Protestant churches. Can we wonder that the Holy Spirit has withdrawn from us, when his gracious work has been explained away, denied, opposed by unscriptural statements on the nature and efficacy of the sacraments ? And have not many fatal misapprehensions and misstatements appeared, verging, on the other hand, towards Antinomian licentiousness, and the abuse of the grace of Christ? Have not frightful overstatements respecting the decrees of God been made ? Have not omissions almost as fatal, of practical exhortations and direct appeals to the consciences of sinners, enervated the whole force of the gospel? Have not writings been published on prophecy, and the doctrine of assurance, which directly lead to spiritual presumption? Have not errors appeared on the doctrine of pardon, and on the immediate blessedness of the believer after death? 0, brethren, humiliation before God indeed becomes us in such a time as this.

8. From these and similar evils, and from the state of mind from which they spring, have not bitter controversies, uncharitable disputes, heat, accusation, alienation of heart, a spirit of party, arisen in the church ? Does not even the world mark the animosity of our controversies? Do we not cause the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme ? Do we not harden the consciences of the ungodly ? Do we not prevent and defeat much of the success of the gospel ? what a scene have our great religious societies presented of late years. how much of the spirit of party still lurks in our minds — that spirit within us ••which lusteth to envy," as the Scripture speaks.

Let each one, brethren, examine his own heart, his own circle, his own congregation and church, and see the various evils and corruptions which reign there, in these and similar respects. Let him yield to the deep conviction of conscience ; let him humble his soul in the dust before God, for his own share in these provocations, and for the share which others have borne in them. We never can expect a return of divine grace till our deep penitence give glory to God in confession and supplication. While we keep silence and justify ourselves, all stands still. When the floodgates of grief are thrown open, then, and not before, may we hope for the Lord to pour in the full tide of his Holy Spirit.

9. And remember, brethren, that our want of success in our ministrations is to be traced back to the same causes, and is a further call to contrition and humiliation in the sight of our God. We all complain of the little fruit which attends our labors. A dew of the divine grace falls, indeed, here and there ; but there is scarcely anywhere an abundant shower of blessing. A few are converted in our several parishes and neighborhoods, and we collect a little circle around us; and we should bless Grod for any the least measure of success ; but we seldom see any great signals of divine power — a general awakening of souls — - a holy and overwhelming influence on ministers and people, which bears them above the world, and leads them to live and walk closely with God. The evangelical fisherman does not cast out a wide net and enclose a great multitude of fishes, and our converts do not, in general, go on consistently and steadily; they often turn aside — often decline — often "fall into temptation and a snare, and many foolish and hurtful lusts" — often divide into sects and parties.