Whether you will be able comfortably to answer 1the Lord, when He shall put to any of you this Interrogatory, With whom hast thou left those few 2Sheep in the Wilderness? O that you would but consider with whom you have left them! Is it not manifestly and mostly with [Blind-Guides] with Spiteful Shepherds, or rather Wolves in Shepherds clothing? with [Cruel Fathers] that *that give stones instead of bread, and Scorpions for Fish? with [Violent Watchmen] that when the distressed Spouse hath come to seek her Beloved, have wounded her, and smitten her, and took away her veil? 4Shall not our hearts melt, to think of leaving the ⟨p. 14⟩steerage of our Vessels in such unskilful hands, or with such selfish Pilots, as look no further then their own Cabin? or sensual Shepherds, that feed themselves, and not the Flocks? or Physicians, that have themselves the Plague sores running upon them? May we not say unto our neighbour, Go 5away and come again when we have it by us, and shall we deny our People our care and over-sight, when their cries, or at least their wants, do call so loudly for it? Have we gained many to the profession of the Gospel, and begotten many of them in truth unto Christ, and now shall we leave them to sink or swim, when no man careth for their souls? Is this our tenderness to the *Children that God hath given us? Is this like Timothy †naturally to care for their state? Is *this to cherish them as a Nurse cherisheth her Children? Is this, like Paul, †to be ready to he offered up, upon the service of their Faith, and *not account our lives dear unto us so we may finish our course with joy; and the Ministry we have received, to testify the Gospel of the Grace of God? Fathers and Brethren, it grieveth us, that you who are Worthies should be compared to the unnatural among the Birds, †which leaveth her Eggs in the earth, and forgeteth that the feet may crush them, or that the Wild Beasts may break them, she is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers.
—pudet haec opprobia nobis
Et dici potuisse, et non potuisse refelli.
Whether you will be able comfortably to answer 1the Lord, when He shall put to any of you this Interrogatory, With whom hast thou left those few 2Sheep in the Wilderness? O that you would but consider with whom you have left them! Is it not manifestly and mostly with [Blind-Guides] with Spiteful Shepherds, or rather Wolves in Shepherds cloathing? with [Cruel Fathers] that *that give stones instead of bread, and Scorpions for Fish? with [Violent Watchmen] that when the distressed Spouse hath come to seek her Beloved, have woundded her, and smitten her, and took away her vail? 4Shall not our hearts melt, to think of leaving the ⟨p. 14⟩steerage of our Vessels in such unskilful hands, or with such selfish Pilots, as look no further then their own Cabbin? or sensual Shepherds, that feed themselves, and not the Flocks? or Physicians, that have themselves the Plague sores running upon them? May we not say unto our neighbour, Go 5away and come again when we have it by us, and shall we deny our People our care and over-sight, when their cries, or at least their wants, do call so loudly for it? Have we gained many to the profession of the Gospel, and begotten many of them in truth unto Christ, and now shall we leave them to sink or swim, when no man careth for their souls? Is this our tenderness to the *Children that God hath given us? Is this like Timothy †naturally to care sor their state? Is *this to cherish them as a Nurse cherisheth her Children? Is this, like Paul, †to be ready to he offered up, upon the service of their Faith, and *not account our lives dear unto us so we may finish our course with joy; and the Ministry we have recerved, to testify the Gospel of the Grace of God? Fathers and Brethren, it grieveth us, that you who are Worthies should be compared to the unnatural among the Birds,
- 1Quest. 10.
- 21 Sam. 17. 28.
- *Mat. 7. 9, 10.
- 4Cant. 5. 6, 7.
- 5Prov. 3. 28.
- *Heb. 13.
- †Phil. 2. 20.
- *1 Thess. 2. 7, 11.
- †Phil. 2. 17.
- *Acts 20. 24
- †Job 39. 14, 15, 16.
