The Peoples Need of a Living Pastor, Title page – Dedication
THE PEOPLES NEED OF A LIVING PASTOR: Aſſerted and explained in a SERMON, Preached Novemb. 4. 1656. At the ſad and ſolemn Funerals of that late, learned, pious and eminently hopeful Miniſter of the Goſpel, Mr. John Froſt, Batchelor in Divinity, late Fellow of St. Johns Colledge in Cambridge, and Paſtor of St. Olaves Hart-ſteeet, LONDON TOGETHER WITH A Narrative of his Life and Death. By Z. C. Miniſter of the Word at Botolph-Aldgate, London.
ACT. 20.38.
Sorrowing moſt of all for the words which he ſpake, that they ſhould ſee his face no more.
LONDON, Printed by E. Cotes, for Thomas Parkhurſt at the Three Crowns over againſt the great Conduit at the lower end of Cheapſide, 1657.
To the Inhabitants in the Pariſh of Olaves Hart-ſtreet, London.
Gentlemen and Chriſtian Friends,
I Know not to whom the inſcription of this enſuing Diſcourſe can more properly belong, then to your ſelves; the occaſion of it being the ſad Funerals of your deceaſed Paſtor: it being ſpoken ſpecially in your ears, and deſigned to affect your hearts, and direct you to a ſerious Chriſtian endevour under, and improvement of ſo ſad a providence. To you therefore I do preſent it, not doubting your readineſſe to patronize and defend it; of which had I no teſtimony of reſpects to my ſelf, yet that high reſpect you did bear to your late hopefull and learned Paſtor, witneſſed by your importunate deſires of him, eminent delights in and unexpected union under his Miniſtry, with your ſorrowfull celebration of his Funerals, and the importunate deſires of many among you to read theſe Obſervations when you had heard them, doth give me good aſſurance. The ſcope of the following diſcourſe was, and yet is to inform your judgements of the neceſsity of Ministers life, and ſo to affect your hearts with Miniſters death: directing your mournings to be from a right Principle, that ſo they may regularly ſtream into their due meaſure and proportion, and proper end: you muſt know every Miniſter falls under a double notion, as in his life, ſo in his death, as a man, and as a Miniſter; in the one a member of humane ſociety, in the other a main Pillar of Chriſtianity, in both he is deſireable whilſt living, and deplorable when dead. But you muſt know Nature entertains him under the one, and Grace under the other. Men are apt to admire acute parts, profound judgement, amiable carriage, and learned language, where they find it, but never regard the Office in which a Miniſter ſtands, and Authority by which he acts in his place; no, this is the work of Grace: for it is religion muſt teach men to receive a Prophet in the name of a Prophet, and to account of Miniſters as the Ambaſſadors of Chriſt, and to eſteem them living and dying for their work ſake. Whileſt I would not deny you the liberty of your lamenting your loſſe in your late Miniſter, by reaſon of his naturall parts and endowments, which I have noted to have been great; I would deſire in ſpeciall to find your ſorrow Chriſtianized, ſeizing on your ſpirit, from the conſideration of him as a Miniſter, ſpirituall Guide, and Father, and ſo witneſſing that you lived under his Inſtructions, as under the word of God, not of man: and indeed under this notion you have much cauſe to lament him; for that he was unto his Miniſtry excellently qualified, in it very induſtrious: and of the duties impoſed on him by vertue of his Miniſtry, very conſciencious for your good. And his death under this conſideration is the ſad Symptome of Gods diſpleaſure, and of ſmarting influence on your Congregation. I have for ſome years obſerved your carriage in this caſe, in reference to a Miniſter: your ſelves know, and I hope yet remember your ſad diviſions, and ſmarting diſtractions into which you fell on a Miniſters relinquiſhing his work among you: God was pleaſed to cement all, and ſettle you in peace and unity, and good tendency to order, by your now deceaſed Paſtor; by whoſe death you are again liable to the like danger. I pray that you may be warned and preſerved from it; and that you may lay to heart this hand of providence, in the loſſe not only of a man excellently qualified, but a Miniſter of the Goſpel, very hopefull in and to the Church of God; to which end, I intreat your ſerious reading of this following Sermon, and if it prove in any thing effectuall, give God the praiſe; and that ſhal be the honour of him who unfainedly condoles your loſſe: and praying that the Lord may make up this breach among you, remains
Yours in all neighbourly Offices in the work of the Goſpel. Zach. Crofton.