Page:Tracts for the Times Vol 1.djvu/144

 set at nought, or disregarded. Let us well consider this point. There is a humble and fearful member of 's flock, who desires to strengthen and refresh his soul by the Body and Blood of ; but he cannot quit his own conscience; he requires farther comfort and counsel. Surely it is to his comfort, that there is a duly commissioned Minister of 's Word at hand; to whom he may come and open his grief, and receive the benefit of the sentence of 's pardon, and so prepare himself to approach the holy Table "with a full trust in God's mercy, and with a quiet conscience;" and so draw near with faith, and take that holy Sacrament to his comfort. And then, again, when he lieth sick upon his bed, does not his "make all his bed in his sickness," when he sends His Minister to him, to receive the confession of his sins, and to relieve his conscience of the "weighty" things which press it down; and then, ("if he humbly and heartily desire it,") by virtue of the power which He has left to His Church, assures him of the pardon of his sins, that so, as his sufferings abound, his consolation also may abound through ; and as his outward man perisheth, the inward man may be renewed day by day. How then ought we to look upon the power which has been given us by, but as a sacred treasure, of which we are Ministers and Stewards, which it is our duty to guard for the sake of His little ones; for whose edification (2 Cor. xiii. 10.) the Lord Himself has left the powers with His Church. And if we suffer it to be lost to the Christian Church, how shall we answer it, not merely to those who might now rejoice in its holy comfort, but to those also that are to come after us? "For the promise is unto you and to your children, and unto all that are afar off, even as many as the our  shall call."

2. But if we are thus bound by our duty to the Christian flock, are we not also still more solemnly bound by our obligation to its Chief Shepherd, and Bishop? For we are Ministers of and Stewards of the mysteries of ;" and "in Stewards it is required that a man be found faithful." It becomes us, therefore, well to consider and ask, what is the full amount of the riches which have been committed to our care; what is the height and depth of the Mysteries which have been entrusted to our keeping; for we serve a Master who will strictly require at our hands every