1. Faitlvfulness is an essential requisite to a steward, 1 Cor. iv. % It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. What ground is there for trust, where there is no truth f Hence is that solemn charge, 2 Tim. ii. 2. to commit that great trust of the ministry iofaitJiful men. And Paul blesseth God, 1 Tim. i. 11, 12. who had accounted him Jhitlvful, and put him into the ministry. T\\\sjuithfulness, as it re- spects God, ourselves, and the flocks committed to us, includes,
1. Pure and spiritual aims and intentions.
2. Sincerity and integrity of heart.
3. Diligence in the discharge of duty.
4. Impartiality in the administration of Christ's house.
5. And unshaken constancy and perseverance to the end.
1. Ministerial JciitJifulness includes J9wr^ and spiritual aims and intentions for God. A servant is OXw$ s^s/vs ; it is not his own, but his master's honour, and interest, he must design and aim at. Fidelity will not endure self-ends, disguised with a pretence of zeal for Christ. It is said of the master workmen of the temple, 2 Kings xxii. 7. that there was no reckoning made with them of the money collected for that use, because they dealt faithfully, i. e. they had given sufficient proof that they appropriated not a farthing to themselves, but truly applied it to the public, sacred end and use, to which it was given. O let us be all such faitJful master-builders of the house of our God ! Let us say, not our interest, but Christ's, not our glory, but his. Pure ttnds in our service, will give abundant comfort at the end of our service*
568 THE CHARACTER OF A TRUE EVANGELICAL PASTOR^
a care, brethren, of all artifices and designs to accommodate carnal interests, under a shew of devotion to God.
Timothy is our pattern in this, of whom Paul saith, Phil. ii. 20, 21. '^ I have no man like minded, v. ho will naturally care for your state ; for all seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Chrisf s." Where the word naturally is not opposed to spiritually^ but to arti- JiciaUy. Others had the art to cloak self-ends under Christ's honour ; but Timothy was ignorant of such unfaithful tricks and artifices.
2. Ministerial faithf Illness \m^oxX.'& personal sincerity. So the word signifies, where it is said of Abraham, that God found his heartyai^/t-
Jul; that is, sincere before him. (Neh. ix. 8.) A faithful minister is a sincere-heai'ted minister. And herein, brethren, O herein, or in no- thing, let us approve ourselves the ministers of Christ : Let this be our " rejoicing, that in all sincerity, and godly simplicity, we have had our conversations in this world," 2 Cor. i. 12. And the rather let us be careful in this, because no sin is more apt to insinuate itself into our hearts, and duties, than hypocrisy. We, of all men, are most in danger to be deceived by it : For our employment lying in, and about spiritual things, we are, on that account, stiled spiritual men^ Hos. ix. 7. But it is plain, from that very place, that a man may be objectively a spiritual, and all the while subjectively a carnal man. Believe it, brethren, it is easier to declaim, like an orator, against a thousand, sins of others, than it is to mortify one sin, like Christians, in ourselves ; to be more industrious in our pulpits, than in our closets ; to preach twenty sermons to our people, than one to our own hearts. Believe it, sirs, all our reading, studying, and preaching, is but trifling hypocrisy, till the things read, studied, and preached, be felt in some degree upon our own hearts. We tell our people (the Lord help us to tell the same to our own hearts) that there are similar, as •well as saving works of the Spirit, by which their (and why not our own) souls may be lost ?
3. Ministerial Jaithfulness includes ministerial diligence. A sloth- Jul cannot be a faithful servant. Matth. xxv. 2L " His Lord said
unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant," &c. And Ter. 26. " His Lord answered, and said unto him. Thou v/icked and slothful servant, &:c. I may say to him that snatched at the mini- stry, as Henry IV. did to his son, that hastily snatched at the crown, He little l<:nows xi:liat an lieap erf cares and toils he snatcheth at. * ' The labours of the ministry will exhaust the very marrow from your bones, hasten old age and death.'' They are fitly compared to the toil of men in harvest, to the labours of a woman in travail, and to the agonies of soldiers in the extremity of a battle. We must watch when others sleep.
And indeed it is not so much the cxpence of our labours, as the
* Lab, '-cr, ecclesiastici succum cxhauriunt ab imis mediiUis, ienium, morteuque accelc" tant. Luther,
THE CHARACTER OF A TRUE EVANGELICAL PASTOR. 569
loss of them, that kills us. It is not with us, as with other labour- ers : They find their work as they leave it, so do not we. Sin and Satan unravel almost all we do, the impressions we make on our people's souls in one sermon, vanish before the next. How many truths have we to study ! how many wiles of Satan, and mysteries of corruption, to detect ! how many cases of conscience to resolve ! Yea, we must fight in defence of the truths we preach, as well as study them to paleness, and preach them unto faintness : but well- spent head, heart, lungs, and all ; welcome pained breasts, aching backs, and trembling legs ; if we can by all but approve ourselves Christ's faithful servants, and hear that joyful voice from his mouth, ' Well done, good and faithful servants.'
4. Ministerial faithfulness includes our impartiality in all the ad- ministrations qfChrisfs house. He that is partial, cannot be faith- ful. O with what extraordinary solemnity doth Paul set on this exhortation upon Timothy ! ' I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things, without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality,' 1 Tim. v. 21.
Brethren, you will shortly appear before an impartial God, see that ye be impartial stewai'ds ; take the same care, manifest the same love, attend with the same diligence, the poorest and weakest souls that are committed to your care, as you do the rich, the great, and honourable.
Remember all souls are rated at one value in your Master's book, and your Redeemer paid as much for the one as for the other. Civil differences must be civilly acknowledged, but these have no place in our spiritual administrations.
5. Lastly, Ministerial faithfulness includes constancy and stedfast- ness : Not a backsliding, or flinching servant. Rev. ii. 10. ' Be thou faithful, (i. e. fixed and constant) to the death, and I will give thee a crown of life.' We look for happiness, as long as God is in hea- ven ; and he expects constancy, as long as we are on earth.