SERMON V.

MINISTERS WHOLLY GIVEN TO THEIR WORK.

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PREACHED AT THE ORDINATION OF THE REV. ELIAS DUDLEY, TO THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE CHURCH IN OXFORD, APRIL 13, 1791.

MEDITATE upon these things; give thyself wholly to them. - 1 TIMOTHY, iv. 15.

THE apostle having given, in the course of this epistle, a variety of instructions to Timothy, finally sums up the whole in the words I have read. "Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them." Which is as much as to say, "Though I have given you many and various warnings and directions. respecting your office, yet all these may be comprised in this short and comprehensive injunction, Give thyself wholly to the ministry." Agreeably, therefore, to the spirit of the text and the business of the present occasion, we shall endeavor to illustrate this general truth,—that ministers must give themselves wholly to their work.

In order to set this subject in a plain and practical light, I shall consider how ministers must give themselves wholly to their work; and then suggest several reasons why they must give themselves wholly to it.

The work of the ministry is a great and arduous work. This appears from the various appellations which the scripture gives to those who undertake it. Ministers are called laborers and soldiers, to denote the exertions and fatigue which attend their work. They are called overseers and watchmen, to intimate the care and concern which accompany their office. They are called shepherds, and pastors, and teachers, and stewards, to signify the various duties of leading, of guiding, and instructing

the people of their charge. A work which contains so many and so important branches of duty, must be a very difficult and laborious work, and, of course, must require those who undertake it, to give themselves wholly to it. But how ministers must give themselves wholly to their work, is the point which falls first under consideration.

And here I shall begin with observing,

I. That ministers must give themselves wholly to their work, by giving their hearts to it.

No man ever gives himself wholly to any business to which his heart is opposed. No man, therefore, ever gives himself wholly to the ministry, while his heart disrelishes the duties and designs of that sacred employment. The minister, then, who gives himself wholly to his work, loves the gospel and feels heartily engaged to promote its great and important designs. He pursues the ministry, "not of constraint, but willingly;" not because no other business happens to fall in his way, but because there is no other business in the world to which his heart is so much attached. He loves his work. He enjoys a pleasure in discharging every branch of duty which belongs to his office. Christ, as a preacher, gave himself wholly to his work. Accordingly, we find him pursuing it with pleasure and delight. came weary and faint to Jacob's well, but yet he chose to feed and nourish the souls of others, rather than to feed and nourish his own body. For while his disciples went to procure refreshment, he sat down and taught the woman of Samaria, with saving success. And when they returned and invited him to eat, he replied, "I have meat to eat that ye know not of." "My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work."

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Paul likewise gave his heart so much to the ministry, as to esteem it a great and distinguishing privilege. "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord," says he, "who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry." His life was bound up in his work. This he intimates to the Thessalonians. "Brethren, we were comforted over you in all our affliction and distress, by your faith. For we now live, if ye stand fast in the Lord." And as his benevolent heart was filled with joy at the prospect of men's being saved, so it was wounded with sorrow and deep distress at the prospect of their being lost. Hence he says to the Jews, "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved." The truth and sincerity of this declaration appears from another, still more solemn and striking. "I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ, for my brethren, my

kinsmen according to the flesh." Nor did he feel less tenderness and concern for those in Galatia, whom he addresses with more than paternal affection. "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you." Such are the feelings of those who give themselves wholly to the ministry. Their hearts are so absorbed in their work, that it becomes the source of their highest joys and deepest sorrows. 2. Ministers must give themselves wholly to their work, by giving their thoughts to it.

This the apostle plainly suggests in the text. "Meditate upon these things." Men always meditate upon their supreme object of pursuit. That to which any person wholly devotes himself, naturally engrosses all his thoughts and attention. His mind is perpetually recurring to it, and with difficulty is diverted from it. It follows him into all places and into all companies, and directs the whole course of his conduct. The husbandman, who gives himself wholly to his calling, employs his thoughts more than his hands in his daily business. This lies upon his mind not only in the hours of labor, but in moments of leisure. He is perpetually thinking and contriving how to plan and perform his business with the greatest ease and despatch. He has his fields, his pastures and meadows in habitual contemplation, and racks his invention to discover the best modes of cultivation and improvement. He lays himself out to provide laborers and all necessary implements to carry on his work. In short, his business employs his thoughts when he lies down, and when he rises up; when he goes out, and when he comes in; when he is at home, and when he is abroad.

So the minister of the gospel should give all his thoughts and attention to his work. He should meditate upon the nature and importance of his business, as well as upon his own peculiar gifts and talents, in order to discover the best rules and modes of conduct for him to observe, in the discharge of his office. He should often reflect upon the circumstances, connections and movements of his people, and endeavor to learn, as far as possible, the peculiar genius, disposition, character and capacity, of each individual. He should watch the most favorable seasons of giving them advice, instruction, consolation and reproof. He should attentively eye the hand of God, that the voice of his discourses may follow the voice of God in his providence. He should lay himself out in his work, and be always studying to furnish himself more and more for every branch of his office. He should embrace every opportunity of acquainting himself with the most perfect and best approved models of preaching, and provide all the helps which he can possibly obtain, both from men and from books. In a word,

his eyes, his ears, his heart should be always open to any thing and to every thing, which can either assist or encourage him in his sacred employment.

3. Ministers must give themselves wholly to their work, by giving their studies to it.

The apostle exhorts Timothy to "give attendance to reading.” This includes study and thinking, and every mode of intellectual improvement. Ministers should be men of reading and close application. They cannot carry their studies and researches too far, provided they neither injure their health, nor infringe upon the other branches of their duty. But they, like all other men, should always read with a particular reference to their own profession. The farmer, the merchant, the politician and the minister, may read the same books, and read them with equal advantage, if each will read with a direct view to his own particular calling. Ministers may read any book, they may study any subject, which can serve to furnish them for the duties of their office. This should be their invariable and ultimate object in reading both sacred and profane authors.

They are to read the scriptures, and examine every chapter, every verse, and every word; not merely to direct their own faith and practice, but to direct the faith and practice of others. They are to read the various systems of divinity; not merely to know the various opinions of men, but to discover and maintain the truth in opposition to error. They are to read philosophy; not merely to shine in that particular science, but to enlarge their views of the works and character of the great Jehovah. They are to read metaphysics; not merely to learn the art of sophistry, but to be able to meet the enemies of truth upon their own ground, and with their own weapons. They are to read history; not merely to know what has happened in the several ages of the world, but to discover the hand of God and the heart of man, in all the revolutions of time. They are to read politics; not merely to become politicians, but to be able to explain and inculcate the various duties of all ranks and classes of men. They are to read deep and well written tragedies; not merely to gratify their taste and consume their time, but to discover the secrets of human nature, and the nearest passages to the human heart. They are to read the most elegant writers in general; not merely to gain flowers to adorn their subjects, but to supply them with the best words and with the best images, to illustrate the sentiments which they wish to inculcate. These spoils, taken from the enemies of truth, they may lawfully employ in the service of God; just as he employed the spoils of his enemies to furnish his tabernacle and temple, and to clothe his priests. And indeed if they do give themselves

wholly to their work, they will consecrate all their literary acquisitions and improvements to the work of the sanctuary.

4. Ministers must give themselves wholly to their work, by devoting all their time to it.

They may employ their whole time in their work; because it is a work which may be done, not only on the first and the last, but on every day of the week. In this respect, it is a peculiar employment. Other men are required to labor only six days in seven; but ministers are obliged to spend all their time in the discharge of their office. When God consecrated the tribe of Levi to the priesthood, he consecrated all their time to his service. He discharged them from labor, from war and from government, and required them to pursue their sacred work without interruption and without intermission. A minister's time is all consecrated and devoted time. He has none, therefore, to spend in idleness, in secular employments, or in any pursuits foreign from his own profession. Nor will he find the least occasion of using any of these methods of consuming, or rather, of killing time, if he only fulfils the duties of his office.

Ministers, indeed, should be frugal of time. They should divide it properly, and devote each part to some particular branch of their duty. They should live by rule. They should set apart particular days to particular studies; and particular parts of days to particular duties; and uniformly pursue their stated method, as far as unforeseen duties and avocations will permit. Dr. Doddridge, Mr. Edwards, and other great and useful divines, divided, devoted and employed all their time to the best advantage. Ministers cannot be said, therefore, to give themselves wholly to their work, unless they devote the whole of their time to it. Their divine Master was diligent and indefatigable in his work, and devoted all his time to the ministry. And to justify his conduct, made an observation which all his ministers have particular reason always to remember and regard: "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day; the night cometh, when no man can work."

5. Ministers must give themselves wholly to their work, by giving all their interests to it.

The apostles and primitive ministers were obliged to do this literally. They would not have been the ministers of Christ, without literally following his injunction, to forsake all that they had. They did, therefore, actually take the spoiling of their goods joyfully, and give up all their temporal interests, for the sake of fulfilling the ministry which they had received of the Lord Jesus. But though it seldom happens in these days, that ministers are called in providence to sacrifice all their secular