Preaching of Christ opened in a sermon preached at St. Peters Church in the…
Preaching of Christ opened in a sermon preached at St. Peters Church in the city of Norwich at an ordination Septemb. 22, 1661 / by Edward Reynolds ...
Edward Reynolds 1599–1676London: printed by Tho. Ratcliffe for George Thomason, 1662
[6], 48 p. · 9.0k words · Wing R1272 · ESTC R15378
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
And therefore the Apostle addeth, That they are the peoples servants for Jesus sake, in order to the promoting of his Honour and interest in the Church. The Church is his Spouse, his Flock, his Body, is to him the purchase of his own Blood. We are his Officers, and must give an account of you to him. Our Love, our Loyalty, our Fidelity, our Fear of him constrain us to spend and to be spent in the service of your souls. He is our Jesus and your Jesus, as we expect our own salvation from him, or value and desire yours, we must serve your faith and show our selves his servants by being yours.
And therefore the Apostle addeth, That they are the peoples servants for Jesus sake, in order to the promoting of his Honour and interest in the Church. The Church is his Spouse, his Flock, his Body, is to him the purchase of his own Blood. We are his Officers, and must give an account of you to him. Our Love, our Loyalty, our Fidelity, our Fear of him constrain us to spend and to be spent in the service of your souls. He is our Jesus and your Jesus, as we expect our own salvation from him, or value and desire yours, we must serve your faith and shew our selves his servants by being yours.
1. Preach the Gospel, be instant in season and out of season reprove, 1rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine; think not much to further the salvation of those by your labours, whom Christ purchased with his blood, Magnify your Office, 2
not by pomp and state, by scorn or superciliousness; these things debase it; but by humble and painful attendance upon the Ministry which you have received of the Lord.
Esteem not that a needless Office, which the Apostle hath made necessary; nor a bootless service unto the performance whereof so great a Reward, unto the omission whereof so great a woe is annexed, 1 Cor. 9. 16, 17. If you be not moved by the souls of others, preach for your own sakes, that you may save your selves. If you value not your own salvation, preach for the sake of others, that you may save those that hear you, 1 Tim. 4. 16. If there be yet ignorance in the people, let them not continue in darkness
⟨p. 43⟩
for want of your teaching. If there be yet sins amongst them, let them not perish under them, for want of your Reproving. If they be yet imperfect, let them not be still children, for want of your instructing; if they be yet exposed to Temptation, let not Satan swallow them up, for want of your Resisting him. If Satan destroy men by his suggestions, he shall not answer for them as an officer (he had not inspection over them) but as a Murderer only. If you destroy them by your negligence, if the Shepherds do not feed, nor the Physicians heal, nor the Watchmen keep, nor the Stewards provide for the flock, you have betrayed a trust, abused a Lord, exposed a depositum, you shall give an account, not only for souls murdered, but for an office neglected, for a talent hidden, for a Stewardship unfaithfully and injuriously administered. O therefore studiously and conscientiously apply your selves to this heavenly skill of spiritual preaching. Preach in good earnest, as those who seriously intend their own and their hearers salvation.
⟨p. 44⟩
Preach not as a Rhetorician at a Desk, only to tickle ears, and to play a prize; but as an Advocate at a Bar to preserve a Client,
to save a soul. So convince of sin, the guilt, the stain, the dominion, the pollution of it, the curse and malediction whereunto the soul is exposed by it, that your hearers may be awakened, and humbled, and effectually forewarned to flee from the wrath to come.
1. Preach the Gospel, be instant in season and out of season reprove, 1rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine; think not much to further the salvation of those by your labours, whom Christ purchased with his blood, Magnifie your Office, 2not by pomp and state, by scorn or superciliousnesse; these things debase it; but by humble and painful attendance upon the Ministry which you have received of the Lord. 3Esteem not that a needless Office, which the Apostle hath made necessary; nor a bootlesse service unto the performance whereof so great a Reward, unto the omission whereof so great a woe is annexed, 1 Cor. 9. 16, 17. If you be not moved by the souls of others, preach for your own sakes, that you may save your selves. If you value not your own salvation, preach for the sake of others, that you may save those that hear you, 1 Tim. 4. 16. If there be yet ignorance in the people, let them not continue in darknesse ⟨p. 43⟩for want of your teaching. If there be yet sins amongst them, let them not perish under them, for want of your Reproving. If they be yet imperfect, let them not be still children, for want of your instructing; if they be yet exposed to Temptation, let not Satan swallow them up, for want of your Resisting him. If Satan destroy men by his suggestions, he shall not answer for them as an officer (he had not inspection over them) but as a Murtherer onely. If you destroy them by your negligence, if the Shepherds do not feed, nor the Physicians heal, nor the Watchmen keep, nor the Stewards provide for the flock, you have betrayed a trust, abused a Lord, exposed a depositum, you shall give an account, not onely for souls murthered, but for an office neglected, for a talent hidden, for a Stewardship unfaithfully and injuriously administred. O therefore studiously and conscientiously apply your selves to this heavenly skill of spiritual preaching. Preach in good earnest, as those who seriously intend their own and their hearers salvation. ⟨p. 44⟩Preach not as a Rhetorician at a Desk, only to tickle ears, and to play a prize; but as an Advocate at a Bar to preserve a Client,4 to save a soul. So convince of sinne, the guilt, the stain, the dominion, the pollution of it, the curse and malediction whereunto the soul is exposed by it, that your hearers may be awakened, and humbled, and effectually forewarned to flee from the wrath to come.5
So convince of the all-sufficient righteousness, and1 and unsearchable riches of Christ,2 the Excellency of his knowledge, 3the unmeasurablenesse of his love,4 the preciousness of his Promises, 5the fellowship of his sufferings, 6the power of his Resurrection, the beauties of his holiness,7 the easiness of his yoke, 8the Sweetness of his peace, 9the joy of his salvation, 10the hope of his Glory, 11that the hearts of your hearers may burn within them,12 and they may fly like Doves unto their windows for shelter and Sanctuary into the arms of such a Redeemer,13 who is able and willing to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by him,14 that they may with all ready obedience, and by ⟨p. 45⟩the constraining power of the love of Christ, 15yield up themselves to the Government of this Prince of Peace, by whom the Prince of this world is judged and cast out, 16his works destroyed, 17and we for this end bought with a price, 18that we should not be our▪ own, but his that bought us, nor live any longer unto our selves,19 but unto him that loved us and died for us, and rose again.
So convince of the alsufficient righteousnesse, and1 and unsearchable riches of Christ,2 the Excellency of his knowledge, 3the unmeasurablenesse of his love,4 the preciousnesse of his Promises, 5the fellowship of his sufferings, 6the power of his Resurrection, the beauties of his holinesse,7 the easinesse of his yoke, 8the Sweetnesse of his peace, 9the joy of his salvation, 10the hope of his Glory, 11that the hearts of your hearers may burn within them,12 and they may flie like Doves unto their windows for shelter and Sanctuary into the arms of such a Redeemer,13 who is able and willing to save to the uttermost those that come unto God by him,14 that they may with all ready obedience, and by ⟨p. 45⟩the constraining power of the love of Christ, 15yield up themselves to the Government of this Prince of Peace, by whom the Prince of this world is judged and cast out, 16his works destroyed,
2 Preach not your selves, your own imaginations, the devices of your own hearts, set not up your reason against Gods Word, nor your will against his grace, nor your interest against his glory, nor your fleshly wisdom against the simplicity of his holy Gospel. Preach not out of ostentation merely to the fancies and wits of men to please or to tickle them, but out of manifestation of truth to the conscience to please God. Preach not your own passions and animosities, things tending to widen breaches, to foment jealousies and discontents, to kindle sedition, to cherish faction, to beget turbulency & disquiet, to shake the piety which the people owe to God, or the loyalty ⟨p. 46⟩they owe to their Prince, or the tranquility which they ought to promote in Church and State; but as servants of a Prince of Peace, preach those things which make for peace, and which may heal the divisions & compose the distempers which yet remain in the midst of us.
2 Preach not your selves, your own imaginations, the devices of your own hearts, set not up your reason against Gods Word, nor your will against his grace, nor your interest against his glory, nor your fleshly wisdom against the simplicity of his holy Gospel. Preach not out of ostentation meerly to the fancies and wits of men to please or to tickle them, but out of manifestation of truth to the conscience to please God. Preach not your own passions and animosities, things tending to widen breaches, to foment jealousies and discontents, to kindle fedition, to cherish faction, to beget turbulency & disquiet, to shake the piety which the people owe to God, or the loyalty ⟨p. 46⟩they owe to their Prince, or the tranquility which they ought to promote in Church and State; but as servants of a Prince of Peace, preach those things which make for peace, and which may heal the divisions & compose the distempers which yet remain in the midst of us.
3. Preach Christ Jesus the Lord, determine to know nothing among your people but Christ crucified, let his name and grace, his spirit and love triumph in the midst of all your Sermons. Let your great end be to glorify him in the hearts, to render him amiable and precious in the eyes of his people; to lead them to him as a Sanctuary to protect them, a propitiation to reconcile them, a treasure to enrich them, a Physician to heal them, an Advocate to present them and their services unto God: as wisdom to counsel, as righteousness to justify, as sanctification to renew, as redemption to save, as an inexhausted fountain of pardon, grace, comfort, victory, glory. Let Christ be the Diamond to shine in the bosom of all your Sermons.
3. Preach Christ Jesus the Lord, determine to know nothing among your people but Christ crucified, let his name and grace, his spirit and love triumph in the midst of all your Sermons. Let your great end be to glorifie him in the hearts, to render him amiable and precious in the eyes of his people; to lead them to him as a Sanctuary to protect them, a propitiation to reconcile them, a treasure to enrich them, a Physician to heal them, an Advocate to present them and their services unto God: as wisdom to counsel, as righteousnesse to justifie, as sanctification to renue, as redemption to save, as an inexhausted fountain of pardon, grace, comfort, victory, glory. Let Christ be the Diamond to shine in the bosom of all your Sermons.
4. Serve the souls, not the wills or lusts of men. Consider the worth of souls, their excellency, their immortality, the price that bought them, the sin which defiles them, the curse which destroys them, the grace which renews them, the glory which blesseth them. Consider the vigilancy of Satan who goeth about to devour them. His malice and industry, his power and policy, his sophisms and devices, his artifices and temptations, the indefatigable diligence, and various methods he useth to destroy them, against whose engines and machinations our Ministry is appointed. Is it a small sin to gratify Satan by neglecting to save those precious souls which he seeketh to ruin? Is it a small sin by our carelessness to betray such souls as those, and our own with them, to the peril of eternal perdition? Shall we be able to endure the hideous outcry of destroyed souls wherewith we had been entrusted, howling out that doleful accusation against us, Parents sensimus parricidas, our Guides have misled us, our Watchmen have betrayed us, ⟨p. 48⟩our Pastors have starved us, our Stewards have defrauded us, our fathers have been our parricides?
4. Serve the souls, not the wills or lusts of men. Consider the worth of souls, their excellency, their immortality, the price that bought them, the sin which defiles them, the curse which destroys them, the grace which renues them, the glory which blesseth them. Consider the vigilancy of Satan who goeth about to devour them. His malice and industry, his power and policy, his sophisms and devices, his artifices and temptations, the indefatigable diligence, and various methods he useth to destroy them, against whose engines and machinations our Ministry is appointed. Is it a small sin to gratifie Satan by neglecting to save those precious souls which he seeketh to ruine? Is it a small sin by our carelesnesse to betray such souls as those, and our own with them, to the peril of eternal perdition? Shall we be able to endure the hideous outcry of destroyed souls wherewith we had been entrusted, howling out that doleful accusation against us, Parentes sensimus parricidas, our Guids have misled us, our Watchmen have betrayed us, ⟨p. 48⟩our Pastors have starved us, our Stewards have defrauded us, our fathers have been our parricides?
For Jesus sake, if you love Jesus; It is the argument which himself useth, Joh. 21. 15, 16, 17. (and if any man love not the Lord Jesus, let him be Anathema Maranatha.) If you would have Jesus love you, if you tender his sheep, if you regard his command, if you fear his wrath, if you value his salvation, study the price of souls, snatch souls out of the fire, forewarn souls of the wrath to come, be humble, be faithful, be painful, be pitiful towards the souls of men. Commend your fidelity, set forth Christs excellency unto the souls of your hearers, that you may be able to say to him at his coming, as he to his Father, Behold me and the children whom thou hast given me. Thus doing, you shall both save your selves and them that hear you.
For Jesus sake, if you love Jesus; It is the argument which himself useth, Joh. 21. 15, 16, 17. (and if any man love not the Lord Iesus, let him be Anathema Maranatha.) If you would have Jesus love you, if you tender his sheep, if you regard his command, if you fear his wrath, if you value his salvation, study the price of souls, snatch souls out of the fire, forewarn souls of the wrath to come, be humble, be faithful, be painful, be pitiful towards the souls of men. Commend your fidelity, set forth Christs excellency unto the souls of your hearers, that you may be able to say to him at his coming, as he to his Father, Behold me and the children whom thou hast given me. Thus doing, you shall both save your selves and them that hear you.
