1792] REV. WILLIAM SMITH, D. D. 355 



And thus, though I might here conclude, as I said before, yet custom 

 forbids such a perfunctory discharge of the task committed to me on a 

 day which we expect to be so propitious to all our church concerns. 

 There are reciprocal duties between pastors and people which require a 

 further detail and enforcement. There are, as enumerated before, dif- 

 ficulties to be encountered by the former, which can only be struggled 

 with and overcome, or in any degree rendered tolerable, by the aid and 

 succor of the latter. 



Your greatest aid, however, you must derive from yourself; striving 

 to be strong, nay mighty, in the Scripture. For all Scripture, accord- 

 ing to our apostle, is given by inspiration of God; and, in your min- 

 istry, will be profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for 

 instruction in righteousness ; — that the man of God may thereby, through 

 your care, be perfectly furnished unto all good works ; and, therefore, 

 since the time of my departure or death is so near at hand, and this may 

 be my last address to you, my beloved son in the gospel, I charge you 

 zealously to preach the word — preach Jesus Christ (as the word is often 

 understood). Be instant, in season and out of season, in public and in 

 private, as occasion may require, or necessity may call ; by day and by 

 night, in times of the peace and prosperity of the church, as well as in 

 times of her adversity and persecution ! Be not dismayed, or negligent 

 of the gift that is in thee. Repel false preachers and false doctrines. 

 Root out the tares from the wheat, with every weed, or new-fangled 

 thing, which springs up at enmity to the cross of Christ, and the truth 

 and spirit of his holy religion. But what need I add more, on a sub- 

 ject so fully treated of in sermons which I have delivered before many 

 of you, on former occasions, concerning the obstructions that fiiU in the 

 way to retard the success of a preached gospel. 



I proceed, therefore, in addition to what I liave quoted from St. Paul, 

 to say something more concerning the peculiar and appropriated duty 

 of a chief pastor of a Christian church. And here I need only read the 

 charge you are speedily to hear, from the officiating bishop, before 

 "the laying on of hands," as it hath been collected from St. Paul, by 

 the pious and learned fathers of our church, at the time of the Reforma- 

 tion. 



Give heed unto reading, exhortation and doctrine. Think upon the things con- 

 tained in this l)ook. Be diligent in them, that the increase coming thereby may be 

 manifest unto all men. Take heed unto thyself, and to doctrine, and be diligent in 

 domg them ; for, by so doing, thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. 

 Be to the flock of Christ a shepherd, not a wolf. Feed them, devour them not. Hold 

 up the weak, heal the sick, bind up the broken, bring again the outcasts, seek the lost. 

 Be so merciful, that you be not too remiss. So minister discipline, that you forget not 

 mercy; that, when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, you may receive the never-fading 

 crown of glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord. — Amen. 



In what a dignified point of view are pastors and bishops of the 



