A Sermon by Rev. Thomas Halyburton: “I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me?”—Acts x. 29

WAIVING the formality of an introduction I shall lay before you a few remarks for clearing the occasion of the apostle’s using this question, and the reason why we have made choice of this text at this time, for the subject of this discourse.

1. This chapter contains a large and particular account of one Cornelius, a Roman centurion, or captain of a hundred soldiers, his conversion to Christianity.

2. Cornelius, though by birth a Roman, was of the Jewish religion, a proselyte. Those who of other nations embraced the true religion, associating themselves to the Jews, were called proselytes; and they were either such as joined with the Jews in the whole rites of their religion, being circumcised as were the Jews; or such as adhered to the substantial of their religion, but remained uncircumcised. The former sort were called proselytes of righteousness, or of the covenant; the latter, proselytes of the gate. Interpreters seem to agree that Cornelius was a proselyte of the gate, one who owned the substance of religion, but remained uncircumcised, and did not join in the whole of their worship.

3. This captain was a true convert before this discovery of the gospel came to him by the apostle: he was accepted of God, and therefore was not to be accounted unclean. Now, none save those who are converted can be accepted: for “they that are in the flesh cannot please God; and without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that comes to him must believe that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him,” Heb. xi. 6. Wherefore,

4. He, no doubt, leaned upon the promised Messiah, Jesus Christ, for his acceptance with God; since “none can come to the Father but by him,” who is “the way, the truth, and the life,” and who only can guide sinners in their approaches to God.

5. God being a rewarder of such as diligently seek Him, did reward this man’s faith and obedience with the gospel-revelation of His Son Jesus Christ, whence he came to understand, that the Messiah he looked for was already come. His prayers and alms-deeds are said to come up for a memorial before God; not as if there had been any thing of merit in what was done or attained to, but to encourage others, and to discover the riches of God’s bounty, in rewarding freely, according to His rich grace, the diligent improvement of light with greater degrees of light and life; and this reward is not of debt, but of rich and sovereign grace.

6. This saint, waiting for the consolation of Israel, has a vision from God, bidding him send for the apostle Peter; whence we may learn, that God has a great respect for His own institutions. The gospel-ministry is of divine appointment; and therefore the Lord refers Cornelius to it, though it had been no less easy to have discovered Christ to him in the vision.

7. Peter had a vision to the same purpose, removing such objections as might make him scruple: whence we may remark, that when the Lord designs good to a people, by a minister, He gives both the people clearness to call and the minister clearness to come; though not in such an extraordinary manner as this here made use of.

8. When the apostle, in compliance with Cornelius’s call, and God’s call, or rather the Lord’s joining in the same call with him, comes to the place where he was, the first question he puts to him is that which we have read to you. “I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me?” and this he doth, notwithstanding he had got some account of this from the servants who were sent for him by Cornelius.

The words are in themselves plain; and therefore we shall not offer any explication of them, but lay before you this doctrine, which is palpably contained in them.

Doctrine.—”A faithful gospel-minister, coming among a people upon their call will be very desirous to know what their designs for calling him were:” “I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me?”

In discoursing this point, we shall inquire—

I. What designs a people should have in calling a gospel-minister.

I. To begin with the first of these. The designs a people should have in calling a gospel-minister; they are many. We shall endeavour to reduce them to a few.

(1) A people should, in calling a gospel-minister, design to hear from him the whole counsel of God, in reference to their eternal salvation. This is the great business of gospel-ministers, to declare the whole counsel of God to those to whom they come, to keep nothing back from them that may be of use to them. So their commission runs, Matt. xxviii. 19, 20. “Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world. Amen.” And the great apostle of the Gentiles in that famous farewell sermon of his to the church of Ephesus, which we have recorded, Acts xx. from ver. 17 and downwards, appeals to the conscience of that people as to his faithfulness in fulfilling his commission in declaring to them the whole counsel of God, ver. 27. And in keeping back nothing that could be profitable to them, ver. 20. Whoever would approve himself a faithful gospel-minister, must take care faithfully to discover to his hearers their lost and undone state by nature; that they are all become guilty before God; and that there is no other way of their obtaining access to him but through Jesus Christ, who is made of God to them who believe, “wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.” To these two doth the apostle refer the whole of that counsel of God, he shunned not to declare to the Ephesians, in that forecited scripture, Acts xx. 21. He testified to all persons, Jews and Greeks, repentance towards God (i.e. that they were guilty of such offences against God, as called for deep humiliation), and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ; that is, that there was no way of escaping the wrath of God, but that of closing with Christ by faith. This is the matter of the Gospel: and Christ’s servants are to make it their business faithfully to unfold the mind of God in reference to these two, man’s state by nature, and what he may by grace be advanced to. This is called, 1 Tim. v. 7. a “labouring in the word and doctrine.”

This preaching of the gospel takes in three things.
1. A full proposal of the doctrine just now mentioned. Ministers must, without mincing the matter, plainly discover to men their lost state, and the impossibility of recovery any other way than by the gospel method, through Jesus Christ, Acts xx. 21.
2. They must discover these things, not as their private sentiments, built upon some rational conclusions of their own drawing and framing, but as the word of God. It is the word of God they are to propose, and not their own private opinions; and it is the word of God hearers are to receive from them, 1 Thess. ii. 13. “For this cause also thank we God,” saith the apostle, “without ceasing, because when ye received the word of God, which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.”
3. This preaching of the word takes in not only a proposal of the word of God, but an authoritative declaration of it by virtue of a commission derived from God. “These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority,” Tit. ii. 15. The word, in the first language may be rendered command, with all command. Ministers are clothed with authority from God; and in his name, by virtue of a commission received from him, they are to preach the gospel, and to speak the counsel of God, as being his mouth to the people, 1 Pet. iv. 11. This is the principal part of the minister’s work; and therefore to hear the word of God from them in this manner should be the great design of those who call a gospel-minister, that they may hear from them as the mouth of God, what by nature they are, and what through the grace of God in Christ Jesus they may be.

(2) When a people call a gospel-minister, they should design the regular and orderly performance of the worship of God. This worship of God, as it is contradistinguished from the doctrine of the gospel, of which under the former head, consists principally in the administration of the sacraments and prayer; public prayer, I mean, under which praises are comprehended, as belonging to, and always to be joined with it, according to our blessed Lord’s appointment in that form, commonly called the Lord’s prayer, which concludes with thanksgiving. In Acts ii. 42, we have an account of the public worship of the church, which consists in preaching, there expressed by doctrine, and breaking of bread, that is, administering the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, and prayers and praises. “And they,” saith the Spirit of God, speaking of the church, “continued in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers”; and, ver. 47, “praising God.” The celebration of the sacraments, public prayers and praises, are divine institutions for the salvation and edification of the church, which cannot be gone about, or orderly performed, without a gospel-ministry, who only have commission to celebrate the sacraments, and to be the mouth of the people to God in their public assemblies, being furnished with spiritual gifts for the work. Matt. xxviii. 19, I. Cor. xi. 23, and xiv. 16. And therefore, when a people call a gospel-minister they should have this in view, as one great design, that thereby they may have the gospel-worship celebrated among them in all its parts, according to Christ’s institution, to their spiritual advantage and His glory.

(3) They should call a gospel-minister to rule over them. This is one part of the minister’s work, to rule over his flock, I. Tim. v. 17. “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.” This superiority which gospel-ministers have is not a lordly dominion over either the persons or faith of their flock. No, anything of this sort that ever crept into the church had its rise from the subtlety of Satan, who envied its peace; and is directly opposite to the gospel, which forbids lordly dominion, the gospel-minister’s authority being given only for “edification, and not for destruction,” as the apostle has it, 2 Cor. x. 8. And it consists (1) in an authoritative publication of the laws of Christ’s house. (2) In an authoritative enforcement of them, by a ministerial offer of the gospel-privileges as the rewards of obedience. And (3) In a power to inflict, according to Christ’s appointment, the gospel-punishments upon the disobedient, the highest whereof is excommunication, whereby the disobedient are “delivered over to Satan, for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus,” as the apostle has it, I. Cor. v. 5. And to one of these three ends might all be reduced according to the common distinction of gospel-ordinances, in doctrine, worship, and government. But that you may the better understand this matter, we shall name some more particular designs: and therefore we say,

(4) A people, in calling a gospel-minister, should design the closing of a bargain, and making a match with Christ upon His own terms. It is the work and business they are sent out for, to espouse sinners to Christ, II. Cor. ii. 2, to woo a bride for the Lamb. They have a commission, as Abraham’s servant had, to go and seek a wife for their master’s son; and those who call them should do it in order to the conclusion of this happy match; that from them they may hear the terms whereon they are to be admitted into this near relation, the advantages that shall accrue to them by it, the inconveniences they will run themselves into by a refusal, and the warrant they have to enter into so high and honourable a relation.

(5) They should design their own furtherance in acquaintance with Christ. They should, “as new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that they may grow thereby,” I. Pet. ii. 2, that they may be furthered in their joy and faith, “growing in grace, and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

(6) They should design their own establishment in the ways of God, that they may not be “tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine,” but that, “being rooted and grounded in the faith, they may grow up in all things to him who is the head and Saviour of the body.” This is expressly declared to be the design of the ministry, Eph. iv. 11. The apostle, having spoken of Christ’s exaltation, and His having received gifts for men, tells us of Him, in this verse and the following, “That he gave some apostles, some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come, in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive,” etc. And to the same purpose speaks the Spirit of God, frequently elsewhere, of the design of the ministry. Paul, Rom. i. 11, expresseth his earnest desire to see them, and to “impart some spiritual gift” unto them, to the end “they may be established.” Those who are already engaged in God’s ways should design their own establishment in them, in their calling a gospel-minister.

(7) They should design their direction through all the difficulties of religion. The Lord’s people have many dark steps in their way; sometimes they are under temptation, and know not how to carry; sometimes they are engaged in a close fight with their adversaries, and know not how to wield their spiritual armour to advantage; sometimes they are out of the way, and know not how to get into it again; and therefore they need some to guide them into the meaning of God’s word; for how can they understand, unless they be taught? (Acts viii. 31). “How can I understand,” says the Ethiopian eunuch, “unless some man should guide me?” and who should guide them but those who are guides by office, as the word may be rendered, Heb. xiii. 8. “Consider them who have the rule over you,” or who are your guides. This, as the end of a gospel-ministry, is promised in Isa. xxx. 20, 21. “And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into corners any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: And thine ears shall hear a voice behind thee, saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.” It is impossible we should condescend on all the particular intentions or ends a people should propose to themselves in calling a gospel-minister; and therefore we shall conclude all this in one, which is sure to comprehend them.

(8) They should seek to have one who may answer in some measure Timothy’s character, with respect to the Church of the Philippians, Phil. ii. 20—One who may naturally take care of them, that is, one who may, out of love to their souls, affectionately, prudently, carefully, and with impartial boldness, open and apply the word, dispense the sacraments, and administer discipline, for the instruction of the ignorant, strengthening the weak, comforting the disconsolate, affecting the impenitent, reproving the faulty, recovering wanderers, directing and helping forward those who doubt and halt; that he may both save himself and them, to the praise and glory of God’s grace. We shall not insist upon each of these particulars, which would require not one or two, but many sermons, which suits not our present design. We shall therefore proceed, in the

II. What way they should evidence these to be their designs.

Second place, to inquire, How a people should make it appear that they were acting upon these designs in their calling a gospel-minister. This inquiry might be understood, either to respect their own satisfaction, or the satisfaction of the word, or if the minister himself as to this matter; but time not allowing us to be so particular, we shall hold the inquiry in the general; and in answer to it we say,

(1) A people should discover their designs to be such as we have mentioned, by a punctual attendance upon all the ordinances, to be by him dispensed in public or private. Thus we see it was with Cornelius; he not only waited on himself, but he called together those on whom he had any influence. “And Cornelius waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and near friends,” Acts x. 24. Those who will not give attendance to the public dispensation of the Word, and the private instructions, either family or personal, but withdraw, we cannot think these persons had the right end before them in calling a gospel-minister; surely, had they been right in their aims, they would have been ready to say with Cornelius, “We are all here present,” etc.

(2) They should not only present their bodies upon such occasions, but they should sit themselves in God’s sight, to hear all things whatever are commanded of God by His servants. “We are all here present,” says Cornelius to Peter, “to hear all things that are commanded thee of God,” Acts x. 33. To give attendance to the ordinances either more public or private, or any other design than this, is to “offer the sacrifice of fools,” contrary to that injunction of the wise man, Eccl. v. 1, “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools.” When we come to God’s ordinances, we must come to hear what He speaks to us.

(3) They should evidence the honesty of their designs, by obeying the Word which they hear at his mouth; they should comply with all the commands of God, and say to their minister, as the people of Israel said to Moses, Deut. v. 27—”Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say, and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee, and we will hear it and do it. For, as the Apostle James well observes—”It is not the hearer of the word, but the doer who is blessed of God,” James i. 25. As we must hear and do so our attendance must not be limited, but our ear must be opened to reproofs, and the most terrible denunciations of wrath from God, as well as to the sweet promises and charming discoveries of the glory of Christ, the beauties of religion, the surprising happiness of the saints in heaven; and there must not only be obedience to these commands, which may bring in honour, external gain, and pleasure, by our compliance, but these also must be obeyed, which may bring us under the lash of wicked men’s tongues, and expose us to reproach, hazard, and ignominy, in the world. All things whatsoever are commanded of God must be punctually obeyed without reserve.

(4) There must be a submitting to all the ordinances of God. Both this obedience and submission you will find spoken of, Heb. xiii. 17. “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for your souls, as those who must give an account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief; for this is unprofitable for you.” The word rendered “obey,” signifies properly a believing upon persuasion, and respects our belief of the truths proposed by them, and a compliance with our duty that way; and, on the other hand, this submission has a respect to the power they have over their people for edification, and not for destruction; that is, that authority they have for admonishing, reproofing, rebuking, and censuring offenders; and by a submission to them in the dispensation of these ordinances of Christ, reproof and censure, I mean they are to evidence to all, the uprightness and Christian sincerity in their designs.

(5) They are to evince their designs to be justifiable, by a careful diligence in applying to their minister upon all occasions; when they are under difficulties, when they are in the dark as to duty, when they have to do with corruptions which they cannot get mastered, when under the Lord’s hand, and so of all other exigencies of the like nature. For as the “priest’s lips should preserve or keep knowledge, so the people should ask the law at his mouth, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts”—Mal. ii. 7. And those who are sick, are bid “send for the elders or ministers of the church to pray over them”—James v. 14. Those who have the advantage of a gospel minister are indispensably obliged to acquaint him with the state of their souls, when there is anything peculiar in it, and when they are reduced to any strait or extremity: and that—1, Because God has laid it upon them as a duty, in that forecited Mal. ii. 7. “The people should ask the law at his mouth.” 2, Because otherwise he will be at a loss in his bringing messages to you, if he mistake your case, or be acquainted with it; how can he direct you, if he understand not your state and condition? The Lord gives no immediate revelation now, we have no warrant to expect any such thing; and therefore the way wherein ministers ordinarily come to understand their people’s condition is by themselves, who upon this ground are called to have recourse to their ministers. 3, They should acquaint their ministers with their circumstances, because they are the people’s mouth to God; and if they be not acquainted with the circumstances and condition of the flock, how shall they, according to their duty, hold up the case of their people to God, as they are indispensably obliged to do, and that in public, in secret, and in private?

(6) Once more, and we have done: A people may and should prove their intentions honest, by a diligent application to their own proper work and business, with respect to his furtherance in their designs. Every member of the congregation should be helpful to him, in contributing their utmost assistance to him in his work. A minister may spend his strength in vain, if elders in their place, masters of families in theirs, and every particular person in his station, do not join, by prayer and otherwise, in assisting their ministers. Then do men appear sincere in their designs, for the glory of God and their own salvation, when everyone puts his hand to the work, and endeavours the removal of what may retard and obstruct its progress and success; and likewise studies by all means to strengthen the minister’s hands, that he may not be discouraged, diverted, or taken off from his work.

III. Make some inquiry into the reasons of the doctrine.

And, lastly, apply the whole.