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THE

REFORMED PASTOR.

ACTS xx. 28.

"Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood."

Reverend anD DEARLY-BELOved Brethren, THOUGH Some think that Paul's exhortation to these elders, doth prove him their ruler, we who are this day to speak to you from the Lord, hope that we may freely do so, without any jealousies of such a conclusion. Though we teach our people, as officers set over them in the Lord, yet may we teach one another, as brethren in office, as well as in faith. If the people of our charge must "teach and admonish and exhort each other daily," no doubt teachers may do it to one another, without any supereminence in power or degree. We have the same sins to mortify, and the same graces to be quickened and strengthened, as our people have: we have greater works than they have to do, and

greater difficulties to overcome, and therefore we have need to be warned and awakened, if not to be instructed, as well as they. So that I confess I think we should meet together more frequently, if we had nothing else to do but this. And we should

That

deal as plainly and closely with one another, as the most serious among us do with our flocks, lest if they only have sharp admonitions and reproofs, they only should be sound and lively in the faith. this was Paul's judgment, I need no other proof, than this rousing, heart-melting exhortation to the Ephesian elders. A short sermon, but not soon learned! Had the bishops and teachers of the church but thoroughly learned this short exhortation, though to the neglect of many a volume which hath taken up their time, and helped them to greater applause in the world, how happy had it been for the church and for themselves!

In further discoursing on this text, I propose to pursue the following method:

First, To consider what it is to take heed to ourselves.

Secondly, To show why we must take heed to ourselves.

Thirdly, To inquire what it is to take heed to all the flock.

Fourthly, To illustrate the manner in which we must take heed to all the flock.

Fifthly, To state some motives why we should take heed to all the flock.

Lastly, To make some application of the whole.

CHAPTER I.

THE OVERSIGHT OF OURSELVES.

SECTION I.

The Nature of this Oversight.

I. LET us consider, What it is to take heed to ourselves.

1. See that the work of saving grace be thoroughly wrought in your own souls. Take heed to yourselves, brethren, lest you should be destitute of that saving grace of God which you offer to others, and be strangers to the effectual working of that gospel which you preach; and lest, while you proclaim to the world the necessity of a Saviour, your own hearts should neglect him, and you should miss of an interest in him and his saving benefits. Take heed to yourselves, lest you perish, while you call upon others to take heed of perishing; and lest you famish yourselves while you prepare food for them. Though there is a promise of shining as the stars, to those who turn many to righteousness, Dan. xii. 3. that is on supposition that they are first turned to it themselves. Their own sincerity in the faith is the condition of their glory, simply considered, though their great ministerial labours may be a condition of the promise of their greater glory. Many

a man hath warned others that they come not to that place of torment, while yet they hastened to it themselves many a preacher is now in hell, who hath a hundred times called upon his hearers to use the utmost care and diligence to escape it. Can any reasonable man imagine, that God should save men for offering salvation to others, while they refused it themselves; and for telling others those truths which they themselves neglected and abused? Many a tailor goes in rags, that maketh costly clothes for others; and many a cook scarcely licks his fingers, when he hath dressed for others, the most costly dishes. Believe it, brethren, God never saved any man for being a preacher, nor because he was an able preacher; but because he was a justified, sanctified man, and consequently faithful in his Master's work. Take heed, therefore, to yourselves first, that you be that which you persuade your hearers to be, and believe that which you persuade them to believe; and heartily entertain that Saviour whom you offer to them. He that bade you love

your neighbours as yourselves, did imply that you should love yourselves, and not hate and destroy yourselves and them.

It is a fearful thing to be an unsanctified professor, but much more to be an unsanctified preacher. Doth it not make you tremble when you open the Bible, lest you should there read the sentence of your own condemnation? When you pen your sermons, little do you think that you are drawing up indictments against your own souls! When you are arguing against sin, that you are aggravating your own! When you proclaim to your hearers the

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