Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SERMON, 850. 1 PETER, V. 2, 3. Feed the Jiock of God which is amongst you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint but willingly; not for Jilthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. L He Cure Of Souls involves important, honourable, and most difficult duties. Those who have maturely weighed what the Scriptures teach on this subject, will best understand what ought to be the feelings and apprehensions of a minister on entering upon the charge of a populous and extensive parish. It is in order to impress my own mind with a just conception of the responsibility of this office, and to lead you to more adequate ideas of the character of a faithful pastor, that I would now invite your attention to the words of VOL. II. G my text, in which the Apostle, who had been a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and was soon to be a partaker of the glory which was to be revealed, solemnly exhorts the bishops and pastors of the church to the discharge of their peculiar duties. The language of the text is metaphorical. The image is taken from the watchful compassion and patient care of a shepherd over his flock?an office which throughout the Scriptures is associated with far higher ideas of importance and dignity than might be supposed from considering our modern usages and manners. The character of the Apostle's injunctions is tenderness; and the chief points relate to the Duties and the Temper of the Christian shepherd. I. Let us consider The Duties Op The ChrisTian Shepherd. These are two: a specific and primary one, Feed the flock of God: a general and subsequent one, Taking the oversight there- of. The specific and primary duty of a shepherd, that without which all other duties would be o...