Letters 01

Found here
(This from a letter to Mr John Jones at liverpool on the death of a fellow-labourer in 1828)

On the Loss of a Pastor

1. Pray for more of the Lord's gracious presence among you, and a more copious out-pouring of the Holy Spirit upon you. Jesus Christ promised His Spirit to comfort His disciples after His departure from them; and He doubtless can comfort His church upon the loss of a faithful minister.
2. Resolve one with another that all of you in person, family and church, will strive to walk in the paths you were taught, and earnestly encouraged to pursue, by the brother that is fallen asleep in Christ.
3. Persevere and labour to preserve church union among you. 'Let brotherly love continue among you, endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.' Let each resolve, by the help of God's grace, that nothing on his part, either in judgment, words, or conduct, shall be the means of disturbing the peace of the church, or weakening her union. Christ did not pray so earnestly for anything, neither did He seek anything so frequently in His last prayer, as the union of His people, that they might be one. The Apostles, in their letters to the churches, earnestly exhorted them to maintain brotherly love and union, to be of 'the same mind, of the same judgment,' agreeing together, thinking the same thing, and having the same love together; and thus they taught them that this is the way to obtain edification and consolation and the presence of God. He is the God of love and peace. And He dwells where these excellences reign. The union of the church is the true minister's fulness of joy; 'Fulfil my joy by thinking the same thing.' It will be easy to be peaceable if we have grace to be humble and self-denying. The contentious and quarrelsome loves himself more than Christ and His church. He would, for the sake of name and opinion, destroy, as far as his influence goes, the church for which Christ died! I think better things of you.
4. Pray much for growth in spiritual, experimental, and evangelical religion, and for spiritual taste, that you may love the Gospel for its sound doctrines, and not on account of the gifts or delivery of any minister. And endeavour to come to hear the Word as the hungry man comes to the table, to satisfy his craving appetite; not as the glutton at the end of the feast, undecided out of what dish he may eat, but like the little children, desiring the sincere milk of the Word.
5 Let every member of the church be careful as to their expressions, that their conversation be always seasoned with grace, tending to administer grace to the hearer. Real grace governs the tongue: the professor whose tongue is ungovernable, deceives himself. The tongue has injured flourishing churches often. Let us use our tongue for the glory of God.
6 Let the churches be very careful as to their young ones. Let them feed the kids near the Shepherd's tents. Take care of the lambs that belong to Christ's fold. The good Shepherd bears them in His bosom. And the church officers who love Christ are commanded to feed them. One of the signs of the foolish and false shepherds is this, 'Neither shall seek the young one.' Zechariah 11.16. O brethren! care for the young, for out of them God will raise up for you priests and Levites. Some of them will be princes in all your land presently. Now I conclude -but say to the elders (as Israel did to Joshua, in chapter 1.17,18), Pray for me also.